Safety requirements and probabilistic models of resistance in the assessment of existing railway bridges

Abstract

This article presents a summary description of the main safety criteria and requirements adopted in the ‘Guideline for Load and Resistance Assessment of Existing European Railway Bridges – advices on the use of advanced methods’ (SB-LRA, 2007. Prepared by Sustainable Bridges – a project within EU FP6. Available from: www.sustainablebridges.net) developed within the European project Sustainable Bridges – Assessment for Future Traffic Demands and Longer Lives. It shows selected safety formats recommended for the assessment of existing bridges, starting from the most simple, for the member level assessment, and ending with the most advanced, for the probabilistic non-linear assessment of a bridge system. The article also presents simplified methods for the probabilistic non-linear assessment of bridge systems. Furthermore, it shows probabilistic models for the resistance of selected types of bridge main carrying members that may be used in the simplified probabilistic assessment of existing railway bridges.