The role of assessments in highway bridge management

Abstract

Highway structures represent a significant asset that forms an integral part of the UK transport infrastructure. The current programme for the assessment of the load-carrying capacity of virtually all highway bridges in the UK started with the publication of departmental standard BD21 in 1984. A large number of bridges have been assessed as sub-standard during the programme; that is, they have been shown to be theoretically incapable of carrying a 40 t vehicle or an 11·5 t axle load in accordance with the requirements of BD21. There are still a significant number of sub-standard bridges that remain to be strengthened and the potential cost to the UK economy is substantial. The application of a robust assessment regime using an appropriate level of analytical tools would ensure that this investment is well spent to maintain the safety of the highway, avoid disruption to customers and limit environmental impact. It is suggested that rather than the highway assessment programme drawing to a close after over 20 years there is now an important role for assessments in delivering consistent levels of safety and reliability across the network.

Assessing the potential value of bridge monitoring systems

“…In principle, some value from any of the measurements will be delivered to some stakeholders; however, the proposed value assessment system is targeted pragmatically at owners and managers -who arguably are interested in a more immediate return on investment than, for example, researchers. Yanev (2007) and Cole (2008) present more general reviews of bridge management and bridge assessment philosophy, respectively. A value assessment methodology for bridge engineers to decide if a proposed SHM deployment will deliver value to bridge owners is now presented.…”

Support vector regression for anomaly detection from measurement histories

“…In the UK, local authorities and Network Rail [1] estimated that they would require over £1.95 billion for the repair and strengthening of their bridge stock. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) [2] in the USA noted that almost 24% of the country's bridge stock was classified as structurally deficient or functionally obsolete in 2011.…”