Inspection Survey of Support Bearings in Road Bridges

Support bearings have a very important role in the structural performance of bridges. As an integral part of the bridge, bearings must guarantee a service life compatible with that of the remaining bridge components. However, relatively often the service life of support bearings is lower than that of the bridge, leading to repair or replacement operations, which can be relatively expensive and may cause considerable inconvenience to the traffic flow. This paper follows a recent study performed by the authors, in which an inspection and diagnosis system for road bridge structural bearings was proposed. It presents the application of the system to a sample of 152 support bearings in Portuguese road bridges, which is also deemed representative of bridge bearings in most European countries. The results obtained allowed performing a statistical analysis in which a number of aspects were evaluated, namely the characteristics of the bearings, the anomalies, their causes and degree of urgency of intervention, the inspection and diagnosis methods and the most appropriate maintenance and rehabilitation techniques. The results obtained allow characterizing and understanding in further depth the behaviour of these bridge components, providing a number of lessons to be learned on bridge bearing design, execution and maintenance.

• Record URL:
  • https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CF.1943-5509.0000569
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/08873828
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Copyright © 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
• Authors:
  • Freire, Luis M. R.
  • de Brito, Jorge
  • Correia, Joao R.
• Publication Date: 2015-8

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Features: References;
• Pagination: n.p.
• Serial:
  • Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
  • Volume: 29
  • Issue Number: 4
  • Publisher: American Society of Civil Engineers
  • ISSN: 0887-3828
  • Serial URL: http://ascelibrary.org/toc/jpcfev/27/1

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bridge bearings; Bridge design; Bridge members; Highway bridges; Rehabilitation; Service life; Structural health monitoring; Structural supports; Traffic flow
• Geographic Terms: Portugal
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Highways; I24: Design of Bridges and Retaining Walls;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01504587
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, ASCE
• Created Date: Jan 24 2014 2:30PM