TU1406 COST Action - Quality specifications for roadway bridges, standardization at a European level (BridgeSpec)

Asset management strategies rely on maintenance actions to keep infrastructures at desired levels of performance. In case of roadway bridges, specific performance indicators are established for their components and, when combined, allow to evaluate the overall performance. These indicators, which can be qualitative or quantitative based, are obtained during principal inspections through visual examination, non-destructive testing and by temporary or permanent monitoring systems. After being obtained, these indicators are then compared with performance goals in order to evaluate if quality control plans are accomplished. It is possible to verify the existence in Europe of multiple methods used to quantify these indicators and how such goals are specified. COST Action TU1406 aims to establish a European guideline in this matter, addressing new indicators related to sustainable and economic performance of roadway bridges. An overview of this Action, with a special liaison to the sustainability issues, is provided along this paper

Cost Action TU1406: qualitative specifications for roadway bridges: standardization at a european level (BridgeSpec)

Durante la implementación de estrategias de gestión de activos se requieren acciones de mantenimiento para conservar las infraestructuras a un nivel de rendimiento deseado. En el caso de los puentes de carretera, se establecen indicadores de rendimiento específicos para sus componentes que, cuando se combinan, permiten evaluar el rendimiento general. Estos indicadores pueden ser cualitativos o cuantitativos y pueden obtenerse durante inspecciones principales mediante examen visual, ensayos no destructivos o mediante sistemas de vigilancia temporales o permanentes. A continuación, se comparan los indicadores obtenidos con los objetivos de desempeño, para evaluar los planes de control de calidad. En Europa existe una gran disparidad de país a país cuanto a la forma como se cuantifican los indicadores de rendimiento y se especifican los objetivos. COST Action TU1406 pretende reunir, por la primera vez, tanto las comunidades investigadoras como las practicantes, con el fin de establecer una guía europea en esta materia, abordando nuevos indicadores relacionados con el desempeño sostenible y económico de los puentes viales. La aplicación de esta norma dependerá en gran medida de los cambios en la filosofía y los métodos operativos (inspección, ensayos, ...) que las nuevas especificaciones requieren en el futuro como resultado de su aplicación. Por lo tanto, para reducir al mínimo la posible reticencia de las agencias de gestión de carreteras a cambiar los indicadores de rendimiento actuales y los métodos para obtenerlos y también aprovechar los antecedentes, conocimientos y bases de datos existentes, es obligatorio que la nueva especificación de calidad homogeneizada sea más o menos basada en la práctica actual.During the implementation of asset management strategies, maintenance actions are required in order to keep infrastructures at a desired performance level. In case of roadway bridges, specific performance indicators are established for their components which, when combined, allow to evaluate the overall performance. These indicators can be qualitative or quantitative based, and can be obtained during principal inspections through visual examination, nondestructive testing or by temporary or permanent monitoring systems. Then, obtained indicators are compared with performance goals, in order to evaluate if quality control plans are accomplished. In Europe, there is a large disparity from country to country regarding the way performance indicators are quantified and goals specified. COST Action TU1406 aims to bring together, for the first time, both research and practicing communities in order to establish a European guideline in this matter, addressing new indicators related to sustainable and economic performance of roadway bridges. The application of this standard will be highly dependent on the changes in philosophy and operational methods (inspection, testing, …) that new specifications require in the future as a result of their implementation. Therefore, to reduce to a minimum the possible reluctance of highway managing Agencies to change the actual performance indicators and the methods to obtain them and also to take advantage of existing background, knowledge and databases, it is mandatory for the new homogenized quality specification to be more or less based on current practice.This article is based upon the work from COST Action TU1406, Quality specifications for roadway bridges, standardization at a European level (BridgeSpec), supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

An overview of the most advanced frameworks for bridge asset management

During this paper it will be discussed some important novelties related to the topic of bridge asset management. In a first step, it will be covered the problematic of bridge assessment through the use of Key Performance Indicators. An emphasis will be made to the outcomes from the COST Action TU 1406 (www.tu1406.eu). Then, it will be discussed how these indicators can be used in the management of existing bridge stock. It will be introduced the problematic of performance predictive models and how maintainability could be integrated for the Life Cycle Cost analysis. At the end it will be discussed the difference between the management of a single and a network of bridges, what type of optimization models and decision-support algorithms can be used. An example is shown through the main results from the research and development project SustIMS – Sustainable Infrastructure Management Systems. The main objective is to show operators how the standardization of this procedure, and how these frameworks would contribute for a more sustainable and efficient management of their bridge stock.This article is based upon the work from COST Action TU1406, Quality specifications for roadway bridges, standardization at a European level (BridgeSpec), supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Life cycle analysis of reinforced concrete bridges in Baltic countries

During this paper the first part of Life Cycle Analysis based on visual inspection data of main types of reinforced concrete bridges in Baltic countries will be introduced and discussed. In a first step, the background of bridge management systems, visual inspections and most common bridges will be presented. During this step, an explanation of differences and similarities of Baltics visual inspections and data processing will be introduced. In a second step, principal component analysis with main outcomes for different Baltic countries and possible reasons for those outcomes will be discussed. Also a comparison of principal components for similar bridges in all Baltic countries will be shown. At the end, input for predictive models will be introduced. The main objective of this input is to show what elements deteriorate more rapidly and due to that have an influence for Life Cycle of reinforced concrete bridgesThe authors would like to gratefully acknowledge supporting of TU1406 – Quality specifications for roadway bridges, standardization at a European level (BridgeSpec), a COST Action supported by EU Framework Programme Horizon 2020.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Robustness of an existing pre-stressed concrete bridge

Robustness has been appointed as a desirable property of systems in order to avoid significant indirect consequences caused by extreme events. In fact, robustness is usually related to global failure or collapse. Nevertheless, its definition is not consensual, having led researchers to propose several quantitative measures. In this work, an intuitive framework for the assessment of robustness as a probabilistic performance indicator of bridges to be applied either to ultimate limit states or service limit state is discussed. The research strategy consists in a review of the state-of-art of robustness of structures, aiming to identify the suitable quantitative procedures to assess system robustness and its contributing attributes. A non-linear finite element model of an existing pre-stressed concrete bridge was used to assess bridge structural performance when it is subjected to several damage scenarios. By means of a probabilistic approach, the load carrying capacity and structural safety are evaluated through advanced reliability analysis techniques.The authors would like to thank ISISE - Institute for Sustainability and Innovation in Structural Engineering (PEst-C/ECI/UI4029/2011 FCOM-01-0124-FEDER-022681), FCT Portuguese Scientific Foundation for the research grant PD/BD/113677/2015. This study also received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement No. 606229. Also the collaboration and information provided by the professor Antonio Abel Henriques is gratefully acknowledged

Overview on performance predictive models – Application to bridge management systems

Bridge management systems (BMSs) have been developed to assist the bridge asset engineers to determine the optimal cost-effective maintenance, rehabilitation, and replacement (MR&R) decisions for bridge networks. The accuracy of these decisions depends significantly on the performance predictive models used to forecast the future condition of infrastructures. The most common performance predictive models used in the BMSs are deterministic and stochastic models. Several limitations in these models have been mentioned by many authors, which leads to a concern about the reliability of these models to effectively define the maintenance strategies. This paper presents an overview of the main performance predictive models that have been applied for infrastructures and recommends the implementation of some of these models in the BMSs.The authors would like to thank ISISE – Institute for Sustainability and Innovation in Structural Engineering (PEst-C/ECI/UI4029/2011 FCOM-01-0124-FEDER-022681) and FCT – Portuguese Scientific Foundation for the research grant PD/BD/128015/2016 under the PhD program “Innovation in Railway System and Technologies- iRail

Assessment and forecast of the culvert’s performance within a road infrastructure management system. Literature review

During the 21st century, within road infrastructure management there is a strong enforcement on preserving assets and prevent roadway collapses. As a result, public agencies have to implement periodic inspections and asset condition assessments. As pavements and bridges also culverts management play a special role in roadway safety, because they prevent roadbed erosion. The scope of this investigation is the assessment and forecast of culverts performance regarding rating condition and network reliability forecast. In addition, it intends to analyze hazards influence in the culvert serviceability, modelling the hazards actions on the infrastructure. In this paper, is performed the literature review of studies done during the past decade comparing advantages and limitations. Five main subjects are identified in the development of a culvert management system, since the inventory and inspection framework, to forecasting models and risk assessment. Moreover, it will determine the correlation between subjects and will find gaps for improvement.(undefined

Fatigue life analysis of steel riveted rail bridges affected by corrosion

Decades-old steel bridges have to endure an unfavourable environment that causes the ageing and deterioration of material properties. Moreover, railway bridges in particular are exposed to a large number of stress ranges that may lead to fatigue damage. The combination of both phenomena has a significant impact on the condition of bridges and their remaining service life. In such cases, appropriate maintenance or even removal of the deteriorated structure is necessary; however, a lack of funds often makes this difficult. The subject of this paper is the development of methodology for the assessment of remaining service life of existing steel bridges considering the fatigue and corrosion effects. Using MATLAB (R) software, a program for the prediction of the remaining fatigue life has been developed. The results of earlier experiments and numerical simulations were integrated into this tool. Various scenarios regarding the future maintenance of bridges were included in the program, thus making it possible to calculate the remaining service life of bridges, including corresponding costs. The second half of the paper presents a case study demonstrating the application of the methodology and the calculation program.This work was supported by the NAKI II project of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic: "The methods for achieving the sustainability of industrial heritage steel bridges" [grant number DG18P02OVV033]

Spectral solution for the air stripping pollutants removal dynamic model with non linear steady state conditions

This work deals with the numerical simulation of air stripping process for the pre-treatment of groundwater used in human consumption. The model established in steady state presents an exponential solution that is used, together with the Tau Method, to get a spectral approach of the solution of the system of partial differential equations associated to the model in transient state

COST Action TU 1406 quality specifications for roadway bridges (BridgeSpec)

Roadway bridges, being one of the most critical road infrastructures components, require regular maintenance actions. Therefore, it becomes important to define strategies to maximize societal benefits, derived from the investment made in these assets. Consequently, this investment should be planned, effectively managed and technically supported by appropriate management systems, supported in quality control plans. For this purpose, authorities need to produce an asset management plan which should, not only define the goals to be achieved by exploiting the roadway bridge network, but also identify the investment needs and priorities based on a life cycle cost criteria. Additionally, a proper condition assessment of these assets must be conducted to support the decision-making process regarding their preservation. A COST Action recently started in Europe with the aim of standardizing the establishment of quality control plans for roadway bridges. This paper describes this Action and, particularly, its most recent developments. MaintenanceThis article is based upon work from COST Action TU-1406, Quality specifications for roadway bridges, standardization at a European level (BridgeSpec), supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology)