ASSESSING THE SAFETY AND SERVICEABILITY OF EXISTING HIGHWAY STRUCTURES

Although considerable effort has been put into the development of new standards and codes for the design of new structures, comparatively little has been done on the development of documents for the assessment of existing structures. The results are discussed in a European action that addresses that imbalance. The action, known as COST 345, "Procedures Required for Assessing Highway Structures," is supported by the European Commission's COST program (COoperation in Science and Technology) and involves experts from 16 countries. The purpose is to identify the procedures and documentation required to inspect and assess the condition of structures such as bridges, culverts, earth-retaining walls, and tunnels. The action also defines the requirements for future research work, provides information on the stock of highway structures (this can be used as input to budgetary plans for maintenance works and operating cost models and also for establishing recommendations for construction options), and identifies those structures not amenable to simple numerical analysis. In particular, the focus is on the work carried out by Working Groups 4 and 5 within the COST 345 action on procedures and numerical methods for assessing the safety and serviceability of highway structures. These working groups cover issues such as overall assessment procedures and levels of assessment, uncertainty modeling (load, material, and structural response modeling), and reliability analysis and target reliability levels.

• Record URL:
  • http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/circulars/ec049.pdf
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• Supplemental Notes:
  • Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

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• Authors:
  • O'Brien, E J
  • Gonzalez, A
  • Znidaric, A
• Conference:
  • 9th International Bridge Management Conference
  • Location: Orlando, Florida
  • Date: 2003-4-28 to 2003-4-30
• Publication Date: 2003-4

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 309-322
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Circular
  • Issue Number: E-C049
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0097-8515

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Condition surveys; Culverts; Evaluation and assessment; Highway bridges; Inspection; Maintenance management; Mathematical models; Operating costs; Reliability; Retaining walls; Safety; Serviceability; Tunnels; Uncertainty
• Identifier Terms: COST (COoperation in Science and Technology) Program
• Geographic Terms: Europe
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Design; Highways; Safety and Human Factors; I24: Design of Bridges and Retaining Walls;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00941393
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: E-C049,, IBMC03-036, IBMC03-041
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Apr 21 2003 12:00AM