An Analysis of Bridges Performance in Southern Brazil Highways

摘要

This paper presents the basic concepts of a Bridge Management System that can create a meaningful conservation and maintenance programs for the Brazilian Highway Public system. The methodology, based on a deterministic procedure aims to create a list of priorities towards a future program of maintenance of bridges. This document presents the introduction of a method that includes the content of the analysis. The application of the proposed procedure allowed the analysis of a batch of 308 bridges in the highways systems that cross the states of Parana and Santa Catarina, in the southern part of Brazil. The model considers several aspects that regulate the conditions of those bridges, considering traffic characteristics and maintenance history. The results bring the possibility to relate the actual condition of the structures within the performance that one expects the highway system to provide for the user. In order to complete the analysis, this paper presents a general classification of the bridges, by their performance, creating a very meaningful list of priorities to guide any maintenance program.