D4.2 Guideline for Load and Resistance Assessment of Existing European Railway Bridges - Sustainable Bridges - Assessment for future traffic demands and longer lives
Type de document
RAPPORT DE RECHERCHE
Langue
anglais
Auteur
Résumé / Abstract
The bridge assessment in many aspects is very similar to the bridge design. The same basic principles lie at the heart of the process. Nevertheless, an important difference lies in the fact when a bridge is being designed, an element of conservatism is generally a good thing that can be achieved with very little additional costs. When a bridge is being assessed, it is important to avoid unnecessarily conservative measures because of the financial implications that may follow the decision of rating the bridge as deficient. Therefore, the design codes (e.g. EC codes) may not always be appropriate for assessment of existing bridges and some additional recommendations or guidelines are required that will lead to less conservative assessment of theirs load carrying capacity. Such guidelines have been already proposed for assessment of highway bridges in Europe. However, there is a lack of this type of documents that can be applied for the assessment of railway bridges. The present "guideline for load and resistance assessment of existing European railway bridges" is providing guidance and recommendations for applying the most advanced and beneficial methods, models and tools for assessing the load carrying capacity of existing railway bridges. This includes systematized step-level assessment methodology, advanced safety formats (e.g. probabilistic or simplified probabilistic) refined structural analysis (e.g. non-linear or plastic, dynamic considering train-bridge interaction), better models of loads and resistance parameters (e.g. probabilistic and/or based on the results of measurements) and methods for incorporation of the results form monitoring and on-site testing (e.g. Bayesian updating). Basis for the "Guideline for load and resistance assessment of existing European railway bridges" is the research work carried out in the work package WP4 of the Sustainable Bridges project combined with the best practical experience and know-how of all the partners involved., RAPPORT DE CONTRAT
