Performance updating of concrete bridges using proactive health monitoring methods

Abstract

Uncertainties associated with modelling of deteriorating bridges strongly affect management decisions, such as inspection, maintenance and repair actions. These uncertainties can be reduced by the effective use of health monitoring systems, through which information regarding in situ performance can be incorporated in the management of bridges. The objectives of this paper are twofold; first, an improved chloride induced deterioration model for concrete bridges is proposed that can quantify degradation in performance soon after chlorides are deposited on the bridge, rather than when initiation of corrosion at the reinforcement level takes place. As a result, the implications of introducing proactive health monitoring can be assessed using probabilistic durability criteria. Thus, the second objective of the paper is to present a methodology for performance updating of deteriorating concrete bridges fitted with a proactive health monitoring system. This methodology is illustrated via a simple example of a typical bridge element, such as a beam or a part of a slab. The results highlight the benefits from introducing 'smart' technology in managing bridges subject to deterioration, and quantify the reduction in uncertainties and their subsequent effect on predictions of future bridge performance. © 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Performance Updating of Concrete Structures Using Proactive Health Monitoring: A Systems Approach

“…Due to uncertainties in the quantification of these parameters, a probabilistic approach for deterioration modelling is generally adopted [19]. A similar approach was adopted by Rafiq et al [6] resulting in a typical distribution for the corrosion initiation time as shown in Figure 1. This curve can be interpreted in two different ways.…”

“…A framework has been proposed that combines the information obtained from SHM with deterioration modelling to improve the confidence in the predicted performance [6]. A sensitivity study of various input models on the performance prediction concluded that the effects of uncertainty in various input models are considerably reduced by such updating [29].…”

“…Combining the two scenarios and using Bayesian event updating framework, the posterior distribution for the "time to failure" for a total of "n" sensors would become [6] …”

“…A methodology has been developed by the authors [6] that uses data obtained through proactive health monitoring to increase the confidence in predicted performance by reducing the associated uncertainties. Due to temporal and spatial variations associated with climatic changes, exposure conditions, workmanship, and concrete quality in a bridge, the actual performance could vary from member to member or even at different locations of the same member.…”

Testing and long-term monitoring of a curved concrete box girder bridge

“…Salawu [10] and Farrar et al [11] discuss the variability of modal parameters due to environmental effects such as changes in temperature, humidity, amount of traffic, etc. and other researchers have studied the deterioration of bridge decks with special emphasis on the contribution of reinforcement corrosion [12][13][14][15][16].…”