Procedures for Reliability Assessment of Existing Bridges

Abstract

Many bridges in the world have been built a long time ago and, because of social and economic needs for their continued use, it is necessary to assess their reliability. An overview of recent studies of these now highly topical issues is presented in the paper. Proposed advanced multi-level methods for assessment of existing bridges are based on the probabilistic theory of reliability, and involve typical material testing, assessment of condition and redundancy of structural systems, and study of actual traffic load. A review of foreign codes with their comparison is presented.