bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Damage processes and performance indicators for tunnel structures
Authors: Strauss Alfred , Bergmeister Konrad , Zimmermann Thomas 
Published: September 2023

AbstractInfrastructures such as bridges and tunnels should be designed to cater for a defined function. This typically mirrors the distance of travel or the level of traffic flow. Infrastructure networks in most countries will therefore reflect the development of a hierarchy of infrastructure, with motorways at the highest level and local access roads at the lowest. In practice, a hierarchy will naturally emerge as the more heavily used infrastructures are constructed with stricter standards. But it is important that the hierarchy is established to clear guidelines by linking design to function, throughout the network. This is particularly necessary where different functional levels or different geographical areas are managed by different infrastructure operators. In this contribution, the focus associated with the classification for infrastructures is on tunnels. The classification is based on vulnerability and consequence class concepts and comprises objects built after the 60's.
Inspection and Monitoring of post‐tensioned bridges – advantages of electrically isolated tendons (EIT)
Authors: Elsener Bernhard 
Published: September 2023

AbstractProblems in existing post‐tensioning structures with metallic ducts occur mainly related to corrosion of the tendons due to chloride ingress at “weak points” in the structure. Despite this PT technology overall can be considered as proven and successful, sometimes severe damages and collapses without warning are reported. As none of the existing inspection and monitoring methods allows a complete and meaningful evaluation of post‐tensioning tendons in existing structures, owners and engineers face uncertainty regarding safety and durability of existing post‐tensioned structures with metallic ducts.The situation changed with the introduction of corrugated polymer ducts and electrically isolated anchorages (EIT) in civil engineering practice about 25 years ago. Polymer ducts prevent the ingress of aggressive substances into the tendons and the electrical isolation allows monitoring of the tendons with simple, hand‐held instrumentation over the whole service life. Based on many results from laboratory and field It is concluded that EIT tendons can be considered a smart structure not necessitating additional sensors. For the first time the most important structural elements, the tendons, can be easily monitored over time and initiation of damage can be detected early.
Optimization of Extradosed Bridge and Analysis of Parameters' Sensitiveness as a Case Study on Abay Bridge
Authors: Lamesgin Abeba , Golla Alemayehu , Rasool Ghulam , Jemanenh Wubishet 
Published: September 2023

AbstractThe paper describes analytical sensitivity analysis and structural optimization for Abay extradosed cable‐stayed bridge. Identify significant design variables using sensitivity analysis by considering cable stiffness, girder weight and stay cable tension force. The aim of the study is weight minimization of superstructure components of Abay bridges. It has span length (100+180+100) m. For structural optimization, it was carried out by taking total material weight of girders, pylon and stayed‐cable as an objective function and all requirements of strength, stability, serviceability, and fatigue as constraint functions. The formulated optimization problem was coded into Matlab R2019a software and analysis results are retrieved from MIDAS CIVIL 2019 software. The paper gives more reduced weight of bridge from conventional design output by using same material grade. The result shown that optimum stay cable length was reduced from conventional design output by 10% from total values, optimum design of pylon height reduced weight of conventional design by 20.03% and optimum design of box girder reduced girder weight by 19.47%.
A LCCA framework for the management of bridges based on data fusion from visual inspections and SHM systems.
Authors: Ierimonti Laura , Mariani Francesco , Venanzi Ilaria , Ubertini Filippo 
Published: September 2023

AbstractBridges' integrity, safety and serviceability are fundamental targets that need to be ensured during the structural lifetime, owing to the crucial role that such infrastructure components play in modern communities. Recently, a particular attention is being paid to the management of bridges since many of them have reached the end of their expected service life. To this purpose, the Italian Ministry of Sustainable Mobility issued in 2020 the “Guidelines for risk classification and management, safety assessment and monitoring of bridges” that regulate visual inspections, risk assessment based on multilevel protocols and consequent monitoring and maintenance activities. In this context, structural health monitoring (SHM) systems play a fundamental role to guarantee safety and adequate performance levels. However, the synergy between visual inspections and SHM is yet to be fully understood and exploited. The main goal of this research work is to contribute to filling this gap by proposing a general probabilistic framework, based on Life‐Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA), able to fuse information from SHM data and visual inspections, with the aim to plan over time short‐term and long‐term interventions and to optimize fund allocation by considering all the stored information.
Repair and Retrofit of Bridge structural elements: New Cementitious Materials
Authors: Ramaswamy Ananth 
Published: September 2023

AbstractThe condition of infrastructure, the constant need to repair and maintain them and the increasing costs associated with the maintenance has led to the search for replacements for steel in new concrete infrastructure around the world. Further, alternatives for repair and strengthening of existing concrete structures ranging from the use of FRP as plates or fabrics wraps to the use of ultra‐high‐performance concrete (UHPC) elements as external reinforcements to achieve requisite strength and serviceability requirements are being attempted. The present study evaluates the performance of repaired/retrofitted structural concrete elements and sub‐assemblages damaged in flexure or shear using different repair schemes including those based on use of FRP plates or wraps, UHPC elements, etc., to restore the capacity of damaged structural concrete elements. An ANSYS based finite element model that accounts for both the constitutive properties of the primary structure in its damaged state and the repair material is used in this study to assess the different repair schemes. The analysis is shown to predict the test results very well. The importance of considering bond slip between rebar and surrounding concrete in the analysis is highlighted. Likewise, the consequence of bond between repair material and the primary structure on the overall structural performance is clearly seen. Performance of normal and high performance of concrete under high temperature resulting in spalling and significant damage from a fire and its rehabilitation with geopolymer concrete will be shown in lab scale tests and simulations. Finally, a field application of load testing of a defunct masonry arch bridge, its retrofit strategy and subsequent deployment with cementitious mixes as a repair to operationalise the bridge with significant cost saving will be illustrated.
Existing standardization on monitoring, safety assessment and maintenance of bridges and tunnels
Authors: Allaix Diego Lorenzo , Vliet Agnieszka Bigaj‐van 
Published: September 2023

AbstractBridges and tunnels have in many cases reached their design service life and keep ageing, with the maintenance needs constantly increasing. Besides, transport infrastructure currently carries significantly more traffic loads than what it has been originally designed for and traffic keeps changing e.g. due to introduction of platooning or autonomous vehicles. Such conditions bring safety risks to bridges and tunnels. In the last two decades there have been nearly 40 major failures of road and railway bridges and tunnels in Europe, with hundreds of people killed and injured. At the same time, resources and capacity for conservation and care are too limited and should be used in an optimised way to counteract the growing backlog of maintenance. There is a strong conviction that use of novel technologies for condition survey may aid the task of managing the safety risks to transport infrastructure. Despite increasing amount of good practice, uniform approach to data‐informed safety and risk assessment, and maintenance decision‐making is however missing.This contribution presents the review of the current state of standardization on monitoring, data‐informed safety assessment and maintenance policies of bridges and tunnels in the European countries.
Life cycle costs and asset management for protective structures against natural hazards
Authors: Hoffmann Markus , Donev Valentin , Brauner Michael 
Published: September 2023

AbstractWith increasing risks from natural hazards in alpine regions in Austria OEBB‐Infra and Hoffmann‐Consult have developed a consistent methodology for condition assessment, prediction, and life cycle optimization of protective structures. Based on a thorough assessment of the asset stock standardized life cycles for key structures like rockfall and avalanche protection structures have been derived. The developed life cycle models allow a generalized assessment of asset condition, residual service life, and remaining asset value. In contrast to typical transport assets, protective structures are both subject to natural aging processes and random events with a certain occurrence rate. Beyond standardized life cycles on network level an adjustment to project level is necessary to account for actual condition development and asset specific events. The paper provides an overview on the developed generic life cycle with application to rockfall protection structures with prices 2022 in Austria.
Analysis of environmental data obtained from meteorological road stations in Latvia for 20 years
Authors: Paeglitis Ainars , Paeglite Ilze , Zugs Maris 
Published: September 2023

AbstractThe events of recent years indicate climate change in nature. Climate change could affect the lifetime of transport infrastructure. Changes in the temperature, humidity, and use of de‐icing material may stimulate the development of damages in road and bridge structures. According to Latvian Environment, Geology, and Meteorology Centre data, average air temperature values have increased by 0.7 °C (1981‐2010 compared to 1961‐1990 g). Road maintenance organizations need information on the actual weather conditions on each road: above the road pavement, on the surface, and below the surface. Sixtyfive meteorological stations on roads throughout Latvia's territory provide this information. This paper analyzes data from six road metrological stations obtained from 2001 to 2021. The results show that over the 20 years period, the average temperature determined nearby asphalt pavement of the road has increased by 1.4 C. This is because the road asphalt pavement heats more, and the temperature measured in its vicinity is higher and should be considered when modeling the development of damage to the transport infrastructure.
Permanent Structural Health Monitoring of a new prestressed concrete bridge
Authors: Wimmer Johannes , Braml Thomas 
Published: September 2023

AbstractThe digitization of processes and methods has been in the focus of construction industry in recent years. Whereas in the automotive industry predictive maintenance is state of the art, the prediction of the service lifetime for bridges is not standardized due to missing sufficient data to develop and train machine learning algorithms. Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) for bridges is used, e.g., to monitor a local damage trend or a structure's response to external influence. Because of the typical SHM tasks, sensors are often built to be attached temporarily to the structure and to be removed afterwards. For predictive maintenance, there is a demand for data from the beginning of the lifetime. In this paper we show challenges and solutions to implement sensors during construction like the integration in the construction planning, the geo‐localization of the sensors, and durability of the sensors to obtain data from first day of lifetime.All these aspects are shown in a practical example for the newly built Isen bridge in Schwindegg, Germany, where a sensory SHM‐system has been installed to measure the bridge's condition starting from day one of its service lifetime. The results show that with a flexible installation team, the installation does not lead to delay in construction.
A comparison of modal parameter identification tests in laboratory conditions
Authors: Đukić Đorđe , Anžlin Andrej , Hekič Doron , Bohinc Uroš , Kosič Mirko 
Published: September 2023

AbstractModal parameter evaluation is widely used for structural health monitoring, damage detection, and numerical model calibration. This study benchmarks two methods for modal identification under controlled laboratory conditions using operational modal analysis to compare dynamic parameters from ambient vibrations and shaker tests. A 2‐storey 3D spatial steel frame equipped with 3‐axial accelerometers is used as a case study. The identified dynamic parameters are benchmarked against a preliminary finite element model by computing Auto‐MAC and MAC matrices. It can be concluded that the preliminary FEM approach performs better in the prediction of modes shapes than natural frequencies. It was found that analysing the structural response to both ambient and artificially induced excitations provide a more complete understanding of a structure's dynamic characteristics. An additional mode shape was identified from the artificially induced excitation that was not previously captured from the ambient excitation.
High‐speed drive‐by monitoring: field testing with an intercity express train (ICE)
Authors: Rupp Maximilian Michael , Lorenzen Steven Robert , Fritzsche Max Alois , Riedel Henrik , Kohl Antonia , Apostolidi Eftychia , Schneider Jens 
Published: September 2023

AbstractThe structural condition of bridges in Germany is often affected by aging and increased traffic loads. However, retrofitting or renewing all bridges is not always feasible due to limited resources. Indirect or drive‐by monitoring of bridges with sensors on passing vehicles has been explored as a cost‐effective and scalable alternative to direct monitoring. In this study, we propose a novel High‐Speed Monitoring (HSM) method for determining natural frequencies, based on accelerometers mounted on train axles, developed for speeds under normal operating conditions. In combination with Bayesian optimisation, a resonance curve can be generated using only a few bridge passages, from which the dominant bending natural frequency of a bridge can be determined with an accuracy comparable to direct monitoring. Measurements on an ICE‐TD passaging bridges travelling at high speeds of up to 200 km/h have shown that the natural frequencies can be determined with the same accuracy as direct measurements. Thus, in this study we were able to show that the method is not only accurate, cost‐effective and scalable, but can also be applied at high speeds without affecting operations.
Performance of Joint Structure of Bent L‐Shaped Steel Members for GFRP Wall Railings
Authors: Sekimoto Masaki , Hayashi Gen , Yamaguchi Takashi , Kubo Keigo 
Published: September 2023

AbstractGlass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) has excellent material properties such as light weight and corrosion resistance, and has been applied to bridge appendages such as wall railings. In this case, bent L‐shaped steel members (bent members) are used at the joints with the floor slab. The GFRP wall railings were designed to consider the wind loads acting on them, and the bolt holes for the anchor bolts were slotted hole for ease of installation. In this study, the effects of loading conditions and bolt arrangement of anchor bolts slotted holes in the performance of the joint structure were analytically investigated for the base joints of GFRP wall railings.The results presented that, in the initial stiffness of the base, the loading condition was smaller for the negative loading than for the positive loading, and the bolt arrangement was smaller on the outside than on the inside. It is shown that the incremental bolt axial force of the anchor bolts is borne by four bolts in the positive loading, however, is biased to only two bolts in the negative loading, focusing on the neutral axis position.
Initiation and propagation of failures in steel truss bridges
Authors: López Santiago , Makoond Nirvan , Sánchez‐Rodríguez Ana , Adam José M. , Riveiro Belén 
Published: September 2023

AbstractBridge collapses are catastrophic events with countless consequences. However, bridge engineering has progressed thanks to the knowledge acquired analyzing collapsed structures. In this direction, modern forensic techniques allow detecting weaknesses and vulnerable zones in the structural systems. It has been demonstrated that the data related to bridge failures has been fundamental for engineers to propose and update theories, concepts, and designs in bridge engineering. This paper presents a methodology to analyze the initial damage and its propagation on steel truss bridges. The first part of the paper presents a comprehensive review of state‐of‐the‐art and scientific challenges. The methodology is described in detail in the second part of the paper; it comprises two main tasks that are further divided into several activities. This methodology was developed as part of the “Pont3” project and has proven to be of great value in gaining a better understanding of how progressive collapse occurs in steel truss bridges. By using this methodology, it is possible to detect initial damage and evaluate the structural behavior of steel truss bridges, which will ultimately lead to safer and more reliable structures.
A New Methodology for the Prioritization of Visual Inspections of Bridges and Viaducts
Authors: Meoni Andrea , García‐Macías Enrique , Venanzi Ilaria , Ubertini Filippo 
Published: September 2023

AbstractThe assessment of risk conditions of bridges and viaducts allows management authorities to ensure the safety of the users and the proper allocation of economic resources for maintenance and retrofitting interventions. A common circumstance in practice regards the lack of information as well as the need to update it, causing delays in the risk evaluation and, consequently, in the entire decision‐making process. Especially in the managing of large bridge assets, the retrieval/updating of information can be costly, both in terms of time and economic resources. In this regard, the execution of visual inspections to determine the defect level of bridges and viaducts is the most resource‐intensive operation on the part of the management authorities. In this paper, a new methodology to prioritize visual inspections of bridges according to their risk condition and operating costs is proposed and illustrated with a real case study. A novel aspect of the proposed methodology regards the use of information gain criteria to refine the outcomes from the risk assessment and prioritization process. Finally, the outcomes of the methodology are implemented in a GIS framework to ensure high interoperability and facilitate the construction of intuitive risk maps to assist inspection plans.
Assessment of bridge Post‐Tensioning systems using non‐destructive (ND) inspection methods
Authors: Quaglini Virginio , Pettorruso Carlo , Cattaneo Sara , Rossi Dalila 
Published: September 2023

AbstractReinforced concrete bridges with post‐tensioned cables are particularly critical structures, as the degradation of the tendons is not fully detectable through conventional investigation methods and/or through visual inspections, due to the intrinsic nature of the structural typology. After shortly reviewing the main applications of current non‐destructive (ND) methods available for investigating the deterioration of tendons and grout, the paper presents a simple procedure to rank these methods through a series of metrics formulated to evaluate the various technologies under four different aspects: accuracy of measurement, ease of use, cost, impact on the operation of the bridge. The procedure has the aim of providing bridge owners with a decision tool which can assist in the selection of the optimal ND technology available to detect a particular strand or grout defect.
Remedial measures works programme for Slovenian motorway infrastructure
Authors: Kušar Matej , Jurgele Mitja 
Published: September 2023

AbstractThe motorway infrastructure consists of pavements, bridges, tunnels, noise barriers, drainage systems, electro‐mechanical equipment and road furniture. All of them need to be at the adequate performance levels to ensure appropriate availability, comfort and safety. To fulfill this condition, road authorities must regularly carry out maintenance, rehabilitation and reconstruction works. As engineering structures have various service lives, performing remedial works for each individual structure at the optimal time would result in frequent road closures on the same road sections, significantly reducing the road availability for the users. Consequently, a works programme of remedial measures is needed which combines the measures on the same road section to the same time frame. The times planned for performing remedial measures therefore cannot be optimal for every structure in the road network, however they can be optimal from the road's availability and total costs perspective. An appropriate coordination between individual types of infrastructure, selection of measures and a method of merging these measures to the individual road sections must be performed. The paper discusses the integration of the results of individual management systems into a unified works programme.
Monitoring on federal highways bridges: current situation, future opportunities & digital implementation
Authors: Hindersmann Iris , Bednorz Jennifer , Nieborowski Sonja 
Published: September 2023

AbstractMonitoring on road bridges in Germany is rare and mostly designed to deal with existing damages and deficits, as a survey of the Federal Ministry of Digital and Transport in Germany has shown in 2020. Other use cases are monitoring to support structural inspection, monitoring to monitor significant structures, or impact monitoring. The objectives, benefits and examples of the various use cases are described in the present article. Monitoring results are most useful when they are combined with other information about the structure, such as repair measures or damage development, in a common data environment. The Digital Twin is a possibility to merge the existing information und represents the highest expression of digital implementation. The Digital Shadow with an automatic data link from the physical to the digital object and the manual data link from the digital to the physical object represents a preliminary stage of the Digital Twin. The implementation of a Digital Shadow is already taking place at a demonstrator structure of the BASt. The basis for the Digital Shadow is the parametric BIM model. In a selected BIM application, the available information was compiled for this bridge and visualized in a common data environment.