A framework for load rating existing reinforced concrete bridges

Metodologia para avaliação estrutural de pontes existentes de concreto armado

Abstract

Abstract  Bridges are essential structures for a country's socioeconomic system; however, in Brazil, most of these structures are over 50 years old. Simultaneously with the aging of these structures, there has been a significant change in the vehicles, mainly in terms of variety, quantity, and load. This work proposes a framework to assess the structural safety of reinforced concrete beam bridges, which includes a two-level method that regulates the amount of information required to assess the structural safety of a bridge. Three bridges located in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, were analyzed. The proposed methodology has proven to be effective for the evaluation of bridges, both with original plan reconstruction and core sampling. Furthermore, the proposed framework allows for concluding about the bridge’s safety without conducting load tests.

Keywords:
reinforced concrete bridges; structural evaluation; load rating; existing structures; framework