'STAMP' - A NEW APPROACH TO BRIDGE MANAGEMENT

The railway industry was one of the first to recognise the need to maintain bridges, and the average age of railway structures is a tribute to both the durability of the original construction and the subsequent maintenance. Over half of the present stock of structures is over 100 years old. All bridge owners have come under pressure to minimise expenditure upon new construction and maintenance. At the same time, the performance of the network must be maintained. This has inevitably resulted in priority being given to those interventions that are essential to maintaining performance in the short term. Measures designed to maintain performance in the longer term are the most likely to be cut when funding is inadequate. This is common amongst all owners, and unfortunately could now be termed the 'traditional' management attitude. Bridge maintenance engineers have always recognised that this 'traditional' attitude to bridge management is not tenable in the long term. Maintenance can only be deferred for a limited period. Performance is the crucial end requirement, and must eventually suffer. There is therefore an urgent need for a tool by which engineers can evaluate maintenance strategies that take account of this long-term performance requirement. Perhaps even more importantly, engineers must be able to communicate the consequences of alternative strategies and funding levels to those who ultimately determine budgets. The STAMP process developed by Railtrack and Mouchel is a basis for decisions on both individual bridges and for company-wide budget requirements. The STAMP process is essentially a whole life costing process, but additionally enables performance consequences of maintenance strategies to be predicted. Best practice can be developed. Interventions and deterioration predictions are stored in a form that provides an auditable process. Engineers who encounter similar circumstances may then refer to this library of information. For the covering abstract see ITRD E123713.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/0947644458
• Corporate Authors:

  ENGINEERING TECHNICS PRESS

  46 CLUNY GARDENS
  EDINBURGH,   United Kingdom  EH10 6BN
• Authors:
  • TEAGER, K
  • TAYLOR, M
  • DARBY, J J
• Publication Date: 2001

Language

• English

Media Info

• Pagination: 7 p.
• Serial:
  • PROCEEDINGS OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE RAILWAY ENGINEERING 2001, HELD LONDON, UK, 30 APRIL - 1 MAY 2001 - CDROM
  • Publisher: ENGINEERING TECHNICS PRESS

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bridge management systems; Bridges; Conferences; Construction; Decision making; Deterioration; Forecasting; Maintenance; Time duration
• Uncontrolled Terms: Long term
• ITRD Terms: 3455: Bridge; 3409: Bridge management system; 8525: Conference; 3655: Construction; 2248: Decision process; 5255: Deterioration; 132: Forecast; 9110: Long term; 3847: Maintenance
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Construction; Maintenance and Preservation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00985511
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport Research Laboratory
• ISBN: 0-947644-45-8
• Files: ITRD
• Created Date: Feb 4 2005 12:00AM