Performance-based Assessment of Bridge Preservation

Abstract

Bridges all over the world are facing different problems in case of deterioration, preservation, and the cost associated with it. During the life-cycle of a bridge, diverse maintenance and repair has to be done. Depending on the geographic location, weather deterioration, traffic impacts and other hazards need to be considered. Studying the preservation strategies of the present, with focus of Rhode Island, possible improvements could be identified. Therefore, performance measures for bridge preservation are proposed. After a description of bridge deterioration for different bridge materials, bridge preservation is discussed in detail. Before the process of analyzing National Bridge Inventory (NBI) data and authoring performance measures is presented, preservation costs are described. First, the data provided needs to be processed; it is filtered to give an overview of the current state of Rhode Island bridges, using R as supporting program. Afterwards, authoring performance measures for bridge preservation is ensured by merging both NBI data and NBI element data, defining National Bridge Elements (NBEs) and Bridge Management Elements (BMEs) and putting them into relationship. Further analysis of performance measures is provided by using equations to gain cost and time information, as well as compare preservation and replacement. Finally, a preservation program is proposed which uses funding data and time intervals to enable different scenarios. The results emphasizing that preservation of bridges is more cost effective then replacement and that bridge preservation in Rhode Island is needed. A total of 27.29% of Rhode Island bridge area is at-risk to deteriorate to poor condition comparing all NBEs with all BMEs. The number of at-risk bridges with bridge joints could be reduced up to 94% with the proposed preservation program. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to take this opportunity to thank my major advisor, Prof. Mayrai Gindy for her guidance throughout my time at the University of Rhode Island. She always gave me good advice regarding my academic career and was supportive in any way a student can think of. I would also like to thank my committee members, Prof. George Tsiatas and Prof. Farhad Atash for their time and commitment, as well as my chair of the defense Prof. Jyh-Hone Wang. Additionally, I want to thank the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) who made my stay at University of Rhode Island possible through an extensive scholarship. I am very grateful for this opportunity and wish also to thank everyone involved in the international engineering program, starting off with the program coordinator Dr.-Ing. Jörg Gattermann. Finally, I would like to thank my family for their great support throughout my year abroad. iv