Abstract
The non-destructive testing methods available for civil engineering (NDT-CE) enable the measurements of quantitative parameters, which realistically describe the characteristics of existing buildings. In the past, methods for quality evaluation and concepts for validation expanded into NDT-CE to improve the objectivity of measured data. Thereby, a metrological foundation was developed to collect statistically sound and structurally relevant information about the inner construction of structures without destructive interventions. More recently, the demand for recalculations of structural safety was identified. This paper summarizes a basic research study on structural analyses of bridges in combination with NDT. The aim is to use measurement data of nondestructive testing methods as stochastic quantities in static calculations. Therefore, a methodical interface between the guide to the expression of uncertainty in measurement and probabilistic approximation procedures (e.g. FORM) has been proven to be suitable. The motivation is to relate the scientific approach of the structural analysis with real information coming from existing structures and not with those found in the literature. A case study about the probabilistic bending proof of a reinforced concrete bridge with statistically verified data from ultrasonic measurements shows that the measuring results fulfil the requirements concerning precision, trueness, objectivity and reliability.
Highlights
Increasing requirements caused by heavy traffic coincide with both: the aging and the gradual degradation of bridge constructions in Germany
The non-destructive testing methods available for civil engineering (NDT-CE) enable the measurements of quantitative parameters, which realistically describe the characteristics of existing buildings
The calculated reliability reacts less sensitive to those random variables which were stochastically modelled on the basis of statistically sound measured Non-destructive testing (NDT)-data
Summary
Increasing requirements caused by heavy traffic coincide with both: the aging and the gradual degradation of bridge constructions in Germany. The main difference in comparison to the semiprobabilistic approach is that random variables are input quantities Safety elements such as partial safety indexes or characteristic values are not included. This means that individual uncertainties coming from the structural models, material properties or geometrical dimensions must be implicitly included in the stochastic variables. This paper summarizes the approach, to use quantitative data in structural analyses which were gained from non-destructive measurements. Probabilistic methods allow static calculations involving measurement data. The application of measured data reduces uncertainties in structural analyses. The realisation and advantages of non-destructive measured data in static calculation are described below
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