Review of inspection practices, health indices, and condition states for concrete bridges

摘要

A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles such as a body of water, valley, road or railway for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle. A weak bridge can either reduce the load carrying capacity or compromise on safety, hindering the flow of traffic and affecting the economy. Hence, it is necessary to maintain the traffic-worthiness of bridges with requisite levels of safety and serviceability. However, those responsible for such works often feel that the funds made available to them are insufficient. One of the ways to address this challenge is to utilise the available resources in an optimal manner using scientific methods and tools. Instituting a bridge management system or BMS is a good way for managing design, construction, operation and maintenance of bridges. Many countries have developed such systems. A BMS guides the decision making processes regarding the maintenance, planning by ascertaining the present condition and pointing out the immediate maintenance requirements of a bridge. It does not wholly rely on the physical condition of bridges, which is often described by discrete condition states on the basis of visual inspection. Since the results of visual inspection are subjective and vary according to the knowledge and judgment of the bridge inspector, most BMS systems make use indices as one of the tools for decision making.