Plan of bridges maintenance

The entry to enforce the Spanish Standard EHE-08 implies the need to draw up plans for the maintenance of newly built structures. It is a notion of great interest that has both the property and the designer feel involved, from the design phase, with the idea of durability and maintenance, and a bid to raise sustainability. It is indeed, the incorporation to the Spanish rules, truly pioneering, of the notion that ensuring the service life of structures is also a very important part of engineering. Its importance involves the property, the designer, the contractor and the person in charge of the conservation. That notion has been taken to the Committee of Bridges of ATC-AIPCR and to the Commission 4 of ACHE, consisting of a mixed working group that allows for the establishment of some rules that serve as a guide to designers, due to the lack of existing precedents. In the international sector great interest about this question has also started to awaken. Thus, for example, Commission 5 (Structural Service Life Aspects) is preparing a document in this regard by the TG 10 “Birth and re-birth certificates & through-life management aspects”. In this article, the authors present the synthesis of the ideas developed in the working group of ATC and ACHE and that are rooted in the definition of the “maintenance plan”, that is the set of tasks required to be identified in the design phase to assure suitable maintenance that guarantees the service life defined by the property. That happens because defining the structure involves its exposure conditions, the drainage system, the accessibility for the inspection and substitution of elements of a shorter service life (support equipment, joints, etc.), the foreseeable deterioration, and everything requiring the property and the inspectors to focus on the activities of inspection, maintenance and interpretation of the possible damages that could take place. This article also includes how these plans of maintenance must be fitted and coordinated in the general context of the bridges management system that is implanted. Maintenance is not a smaller, secondary or merely cosmetic question. It is an essential activity to make for sustainable construction and efficient operation. It requires experience and qualified engineering. It is a relatively new activity in the construction field that has evolved a lot in the last few years and that is going to be developed even more in the foreseeable future.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://www.piarc.org/en/order-library/13949-en-Proceedings%20of%20the%20XXIVth%20World%20Road%20Congress,%20Mexico%20-%202011.htm
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Alternate title: Maintenance plans for highway bridges. Abstract reprinted with permission of the World Road Association – PIARC.
• Corporate Authors:

  World Road Association (PIARC)

  La Grande Arche, Paroi Nord, Niveau 5
  F-92055 La Defense Cedex,   France 
• Authors:
  • Criado, E
  • Leon, J
  • Navareno, A
  • Cerezo, A
• Conference:
  • 24th World Road Congress
  • Location: Mexico City , Mexico
  • Date: 2011-9-26 to 2011-9-30
• Publication Date: 2011

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 13p
• Monograph Title: 24th World Road Congress Proceedings: Roads for a Better Life: Mobility, Sustainability and Development

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bridge management systems; Bridges; Maintenance; Rehabilitation; Service life
• Geographic Terms: Spain
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Highways; Maintenance and Preservation; I61: Equipment and Maintenance Methods;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01520725
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 2840602679
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Mar 31 2014 9:33AM