Adequate description of the deterioration of structures and their elements is very important for the effective use of bridge management systems. In the course of operating the Moscow Bridge Management System, deterioration processes have been studied using the results of standard inspections of 1,059 facilities containing over 500,000 standard elements. The analysis shows that for structural standard elements, deterioration of strength properties virtually does not occur or is of accidental character. In most cases, deterioration is attributable primarily to the wear of materials, which depends to a large degree on the quality of their manufacturing and protection. Also, lifespan prediction for a set of standard elements should take into account their mutual effects on each other. The methodological sequence of adjustment of deterioration models for different standard elements, initially adopted on the basis of experts' judgments, is suggested.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.