ABSTRACT
The durability and reliable operation of bridges play a critical role in society’s development and economic growth. Nevertheless, the existing structures’ deterioration over time, increasing structural demands, and exposure to extreme events may raise safety concerns and consequently limit the bridges’ lifetime. The service life extension and durability of these structures rely on successful maintenance, repair, and rehabilitation activities supported by the rational use of inspection and monitoring information. In general, as the repair decision follows inspection results, a timely and accurate inspection plan can avoid unnecessary early repair and prevent repair being administered only when the degradation is at an advanced stage, resulting in a structurally deficient operating bridge with a high failure risk and complex and costly rehabilitation strategies. At all stages involved in the decision-making process, the presence of uncertainties associated with the onset and spread of damage, the occurrence of extreme events, the accuracy of inspections, and the effect of maintenance actions must be recognized, so that the structure’s long-term performance is rationally quantified during the life cycle. Additionally, because of the limitations of visual inspections, non-destructive testing can be employed to enhance the level of inspection reliability and contribute to a better prognosis of structural performance, thereby supporting the decision process. By developing appropriate inspection and repair policies through an optimization framework, safety and cost requirements can be achieved during a structure’s life cycle. In this sense, this work aims to demonstrate the application of an optimum inspection planning framework for a deteriorating reinforced concrete railway bridge affected by reinforcement corrosion based on a probabilistic analysis.
