Bridge Design Toward Improved Inspection and Maintenance

摘要

The principle of designing bridges while having in mind the future inspections and maintenance has often been overlooked in the past, when in the design stage greater emphasis was placed on firstly fulfilling just the «initial requirements» of the bridge - mainly structural safety and serviceability -and secondly minimizing the initial capital cost. This approach has, in many instances, resulted in costly future maintenance which far exceeded the initial capital savings of not considering the aspects of inspection and maintenance.