Developments towards a European Bridge Assessment Code

During the last decade, extensive research efforts were expended in Europe to develop new techniques for the assessment, rehabilitation and management of existing bridges. Several European-wide research projects that addressed these topics have been recently completed including: BRIME, COST345, SAMARIS, Sustainable Bridges and ARCHES. These projects led to the development of several guidelines providing state-ofthe-art methods for the safety assessment of existing bridges. However, the implementation of these proposed guidelines might be difficult in many European countries due to the lack of national documents that will legally approve their practical application. Furthermore, the guidelines are presented as state-of-the-art solutions rather than as codes or specifications and thus may be difficult to follow by less experienced engineers. To help in expediting the implementation of the proposed guidelines, this paper proposes the development of a new Eurocode for Bridge Safety Assessment. The key elements of such a code are presented including: 1) the use of probability based assessment, 2) the use of redundancy and robustness criteria, 3) the use of site-specific loads, 4) methods for incorporating diagnostic test data, and 5) methods for incorporating proof load test data.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Developments towards a European Bridge Assessment Code

During the last decade, extensive research efforts were expended in Europe to develop new techniques for the assessment, rehabilitation and management of existing bridges. Several European-wide research projects that addressed these topics have been recently completed including: BRIME, COST345, SAMARIS, Sustainable Bridges and ARCHES. These projects led to the development of several guidelines providing state-ofthe-art methods for the safety assessment of existing bridges. However, the implementation of these proposed guidelines might be difficult in many European countries due to the lack of national documents that will legally approve their practical application. Furthermore, the guidelines are presented as state-of-the-art solutions rather than as codes or specifications and thus may be difficult to follow by less experienced engineers. To help in expediting the implementation of the proposed guidelines, this paper proposes the development of a new Eurocode for Bridge Safety Assessment. The key elements of such a code are presented including: 1) the use of probability based assessment, 2) the use of redundancy and robustness criteria, 3) the use of site-specific loads, 4) methods for incorporating diagnostic test data, and 5) methods for incorporating proof load test data.Peer Reviewe

Simplified probabilistic non-linear assessment of existing railway bridges

An objective of the European Commission’s 6th Framework Research Project, Sustainable Bridges, is to advance our understanding of the behaviour of existing railway bridges and develop tools to assess their ability to safely handle future traffic demands and extend their service lives. This paper presents the findings of a study that reviews structural safety models applicable to the assessment of existing bridges. The study proposes the use of simplified probabilistic non- linear structural analysis methods to provide more accurate assessments of the load capacity of bridge systems than traditional methods. The simplified methods use the results of a limited number of deterministic non-linear structural analyses and apply these results into a reliability framework. The application of the proposed methods is illustrated by assessing the safety of an existing bridge. The accuracy and efficiency of the simplified methods are verified by comparing the results of the simplified methods to those obtained from full probabilistic non- linear analysis procedures.Peer Reviewe

Dataset of ontology competency questions to SPARQL-OWL queries translations

This data article reports on a new set of 234 competency questions for ontology development and their formalisation into a set of 131 SPARQL-OWL queries. This is the largest set of competency questions with their linked queries to date, covering several ontologies of different type in different subject domains developed by different groups of question authors and ontology developers. The dataset is focused specifically on the ontology TBox (terminological part). The dataset may serve as a manually created gold standard for testing and benchmarking, research into competency questions and querying ontologies, and tool development. The data is available in Mendeley Data. Its analysis is presented in “Analysis of Ontology Competency Questions and their formalizations in SPARQL-OWL” [15]

Simplified probabilistic non-linear assessment of existing railway bridges

An objective of the European Commission’s 6th Framework Research Project, Sustainable Bridges, is to advance our understanding of the behaviour of existing railway bridges and develop tools to assess their ability to safely handle future traffic demands and extend their service lives. This paper presents the findings of a study that reviews structural safety models applicable to the assessment of existing bridges. The study proposes the use of simplified probabilistic non- linear structural analysis methods to provide more accurate assessments of the load capacity of bridge systems than traditional methods. The simplified methods use the results of a limited number of deterministic non-linear structural analyses and apply these results into a reliability framework. The application of the proposed methods is illustrated by assessing the safety of an existing bridge. The accuracy and efficiency of the simplified methods are verified by comparing the results of the simplified methods to those obtained from full probabilistic non- linear analysis procedures.Peer Reviewe

Developments towards a European Bridge Assessment Code

During the last decade, extensive research efforts were expended in Europe to develop new techniques for the assessment, rehabilitation and management of existing bridges. Several European-wide research projects that addressed these topics have been recently completed including: BRIME, COST345, SAMARIS, Sustainable Bridges and ARCHES. These projects led to the development of several guidelines providing state-ofthe-art methods for the safety assessment of existing bridges. However, the implementation of these proposed guidelines might be difficult in many European countries due to the lack of national documents that will legally approve their practical application. Furthermore, the guidelines are presented as state-of-the-art solutions rather than as codes or specifications and thus may be difficult to follow by less experienced engineers. To help in expediting the implementation of the proposed guidelines, this paper proposes the development of a new Eurocode for Bridge Safety Assessment. The key elements of such a code are presented including: 1) the use of probability based assessment, 2) the use of redundancy and robustness criteria, 3) the use of site-specific loads, 4) methods for incorporating diagnostic test data, and 5) methods for incorporating proof load test data.Peer Reviewe