Abstract
The limitations of the standard two-year interval for the visual inspection of bridges required by the U.S. National Bridge Inspection Standards have been well documented, and alternative approaches to bridge inspection planning have been presented in recent literature. This paper explores a different strategy for determining the interval between inspections and the type of inspection technique to use for bridges. The foundational premise of the proposed approach is that bridge inspections are conducted to increase knowledge about the bridge’s current condition, and therefore, are only required when uncertainty about the knowledge of the bridge condition is too high. An example case of a reinforced concrete bridge deck was used to demonstrate how this approach would work. The method utilized deterioration models for predicting corrosion and crack initiation time, considering the uncertainty in the models’ parameters. Bridge inspections were used to update the current condition information and model parameters through Bayesian updating. As this paper presents a new idea for inspection planning, not all of the data or models necessary to fully develop and validate the approach currently exist. Nonetheless, the method was applied to a simulated example which demonstrates how the timing and means of bridge inspection can be tailored to provide the required data about individual bridges needed for effective bridge management decision making.
Highlights
Introduction and PurposeThe U.S National Bridge Inspection (NBI) program was established in 1968 as a result of the Silver Bridge collapse in 1967
Bridge design and inspection technology has changed since the National Bridge Inspection Standards (NBIS) were established, and the new technology may allow for longer inspection intervals so that inspection resources can be more efficiently focused on bridges most in need of monitoring [4]
The remainder of this paper is organized as follows: first, the concept and motivation of uncertainty-based inspection was discussed, to implement uncertainty-based inspection planning, an integrated decision framework for selecting inspection interval and inspection techniques was presented in detail, including Bayesian updating, and the framework was illustrated through inspection planning for an example reinforced concrete (RC) bridge deck considering deterioration through different stages of its service life
Summary
The U.S National Bridge Inspection (NBI) program was established in 1968 as a result of the Silver Bridge collapse in 1967. Many new techniques for nondestructive evaluation (NDE) of bridges have been developed based on electrical, magnetic, thermal, and acoustic properties of materials Several of these techniques can help establish the internal condition of a structure, for example, defining the propensity to corrosion for a concrete element, detecting cracks and delamination beneath the concrete substrate, and detecting fatigue cracks and welding discontinuities in steel members. The loss of cross sectional area of reinforcing steel and the loss of bond between concrete and steel due to general and localized (pitting) corrosion can be predicted using deterioration models (e.g., the ones proposed by [17]) Stochastic deterioration models, such as case-based reasoning and Markovian models, have been used for many years in the field of bridge management, to enhance the timing of maintenance, repair and replacement actions [18,19]. The novel approach to bridge inspection practice described in this paper was based on the premise that, for purposes of bridge management, bridge inspections serve to provide knowledge about the bridge’s current condition, and inspections are only required when there is too much uncertainty about the current condition of the bridge to allow for effective decision making
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