ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT Quality control management of structural concrete, as well as of concrete road bridges shows a lot of differences within European countries. This article provides not only an overview of the state of the art, but presents also a holistic approach for the performance evaluation of structural concrete. To standardize the method of quality controls in Europe and consequently the decision making of maintenance measures, the purpose of the project COST Action TU1406 was the development of a guideline for the establishment of quality control plans for roadway bridges. It deals with the survey of the relevant performance indicators for the condition assessment of road bridges. To identify data concerning performance indicators, the member countries of the COST Action were asked to extract all information from documents already used by operators, as well as from research documents. The procedure for the collection and documentation of the data and their evaluation is discussed in detail. A major part of the process deals with the homogenization and categorization of the results from the survey, in order to subsequently identify performance indicators and to reduce them to the relevant terms. Furthermore, on the basis of the reduced performance indicators, an evaluation system was developed for the assessment of the condition of road bridges. In order to be able to assess the current state of structures and to estimate the necessary investment costs for its preservation, the grades of the individual performance indicators are used to calculate the overall grades for the so-called key performance indicators. These contents represent a basis and an important step for the further work stages for the development of a standardized guideline for the establishment of quality control plans for roadway bridges in Europe.
