Open Access Review Article

Decision Support Framework for Inspection and Maintenance; A Focus on Bridges using Post- Tensioning Tendons

Mahdy Taeby1 and Armin B Mehrabi2*

1Research Assistant, Florida International University, Miami, Florida, USA

2Associate Professor, Florida International University, Miami, Florida, US

Corresponding Author

Received Date: September 05, 2019  Published Date: September 12, 2019

Abstract

Aging and decay of transportation facilities, and the higher long-term cost of passive maintenance has led to the need for development of proactive management systems for bridge maintenance, repair and rehabilitation. This paper proposes a framework for Bridge Decision Support Framework (BDSF) as a form of proactive asset management system. A BDSF allows the asset manager to perform economic analyses on a bridge in order to establish priorities and make preliminary selection of preservation, repair or rehabilitation options. Among various bridge systems, segmental bridges using internal and external post-tensioning have faced great challenges due to issues related to the durability of the posttensioning tendons. Although some reserve capacity has been designed into these bridges, failure of tendons can have profound effect in the safety and structural integrity. These experiences have stressed the need for a proactive and predictive BDSF. A major component of such system is the ability to accurately plan inspection and condition assessment of the bridge, and to provide appropriate mitigation strategies preventing major damages to progress beyond manageable levels. Employing BDSF allows consideration of a variety of rehabilitation scenarios and strategies under different criteria when different decision makers are involved. The BDSF proposed in this paper considers a bridge as a system comprising of subsystems, each with distinct structural role and performance. Special emphasis is placed on post-tensioning tendons as critical subsystem. This paper attempts to identify subsystems for a post-tensioned bridge, their position in the structural integrity of system, respective properties and deterioration potentials.

Keywords: Bridges; Post-tensioned bridges; Post-tensioning tendons; Reliability; Risk-based maintenance; Condition assessment; Maintenance; Decision Making; Rehabilitation; Corrosion; Deterioration.

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