Non-destructively Measurable Quantities Relevant to Reliability Assessment of Existing Concrete Bridges – Case Studies

In reliability assessment of existing bridges, collected information about the structure can be utilized to modify partial safety factors and to refine characteristic values individually. In this way, uncertainties covered in initial calculation models and arising from assumptions can be reduced as well as biases identified and corrected. This allows for more realistic assessments and more appropriate decisions on actions to be taken. However, the on-site observation of information is generally associated with certain costs. For this reason, an efficient data-supported reassessment requires that only the individually relevant testing tasks are solved. Additional sensitivity analyses can further be used to specify the requirements on certain inspections, such as the testing result quality to be achieved, in order to avoid too imprecise or too expensive measurements on-site. In this contribution, the methodology for the demand-actuated definition of measurement objectives is demonstrated using the example of non-destructive concrete testing methods and findings from reassessments of two prestressed concrete bridges. Each case study includes the semi-probabilistic identification of structural weak points in ultimate and serviceability limit states, a comparison with respective probabilistic sensitivity analyses, and the subsequent derivation of parameters that are a) measurable and b) highly relevant in the individual reliability analyses.