Management Path of Concrete Beam Bridge in China from the Perspective of Sustainable Development

Abstract

More and more bridges have entered the maintenance stage, which has potential collapse hazards and threatens life and property safety. More attention has been paid to the improvement of maintenance management levels during the operation period in terms of extending the service life of the bridge, but less attention has been paid to it from the perspective of the whole life cycle. One hundred and ninety examples of concrete beam bridges in China were collected, based on which the collapse characteristics and collapse causes of concrete beam bridges were analyzed. The causes of bridge collapse come from all stages of bridge life cycle, including environmental factors and human factors. Moreover, the effects of the previous phase carry over to the next. Superficially, poor maintenance management during an operation led to bridge collapse. However, the root cause may have occurred at an earlier stage. On this basis, a fuzzy interpretation structure model (FISM) for concrete beam bridge deterioration is conducted. The model can decompose the complex and messy relationship among the factors of bridge collapse into a clear, multi–level and hierarchical structure. Compared with qualitative analysis, an ISM chart can directly reflect the relationship between collapse factors, which is convenient for further analysis. Poor maintenance management during operation is the direct cause, while improper planning, imperfect standards and weak supervision in the early stage are the fundamental causes. Finally, in order to improve the sustainability of concrete beam bridges scientifically, management suggestions are put forward for the participants involved in each stage of the bridge’s life cycle.