Bridge owner's benefits from probabilistic approaches

Abstract

The growth of national economies in the latter half of the twentieth century has resulted in steadily increasing traffic volumes on trading routes and in an increase in the demands placed on an ageing bridge stock. Ironically, economic growth has not resulted in an increase in the budgets available to bridge owners for maintenance of their ageing resource. The approach adopted by the Danish Road Directorate in addressing this challenge has been to exploit advances in scientific methods in the management of its bridges. The use of probabilistic approaches within the areas of capacity assessment of bridges, bridge management and ship impact assessments have resulted in substantial cost savings, and future maintenance and repair needs have been minimized. Examples of the various areas where the probabilistic approaches have been applied are given, and both the technical approach and the administrative and financial benefits are presented.