1
PART 1 – INTRODUCTION AND REVIEW
2
3
CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION
4
5 CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION
1 INTRODUCTION
This chapter consists of background information, scope, motivations, objective and limitations.
It also includes how the report has been structured to achieve the mentioned goals. Furthermore, it includes some research questions which are answered in chapter 6, “Conclusion and Further Studies”.
This thesis was initiated after an article in VG newspaper regarding the bridge status in Norway (VG, 2017). The article was published in 2017 and it attracted the interests of researchers and experts to discuss and investigate more regarding the failure profiles, maintenance, inspection, operations and the preventive measures for the bridges to be able to assure safer and more reliable bridge structures and therefore transportations. To do so, historical bridge data and complementary information from Norwegian Public Roads Administration (SVV) through interviews, “BRUTUS” database and reports are used in this project.
1.1 BACKGROUND
Civil structures play an important role in our daily life transportations. As one of the most important civil structures, bridges have been built because of fulfilling the constant human needs for communication, trading and transportations (Blockley, 2010). Engineers have used different materials, designs, architectures and other different elements in the bridge structures which provide more complexity to the bridge structures (Troyano, 2003).
Bridge safety is an indispensable part of transportation safety. In order to have reliable and safe structures, it is important to have a clear understanding of their system to be able to develop efficient and cost-efficient operation, maintenance and inspection plans (Miyamoto, Kawamura, & Nakamura, 2000). Each bridge is unique with respect to its material composition, design and the environment in which it is located and other applicable factors. This makes defining a unified framework for studying the failure profiles in the bridges a difficult task.
The current report aims at taking the first step to reach such a goal. The focus of this report is to present and approach the relevant issues based on an analysis for the bridges in Trondheim municipality.
6 CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION
The intention of this report is to provide a clear and structured picture of these issues and how they can be studied further. Therefore, it can enable engineers to understand the current issues in the bridge structures at the moment and to develop efficient and cost-efficient operation, maintenance and inspection plans.
1.2 AIM AND OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT
The main aim of this project is to develop the failure profile in the bridge structures which can assimilate the development of efficient and cost-efficient operation, maintenance and inspection plans.
The report introduces information regarding the bridge characteristics, reliability and the failure profile. Furthermore, the bridge status in Trondheim municipality has been presented based on the data from Norwegian Public Roads administration (SVV). The identified bridges with poor and very poor status are discussed in more detail.
1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Research questions are listed as below:
1. How bridge structures can be categorized?
2. How to define reliability and failure profile concepts for the bridge structures? I.e.
when does a bridge fail?
3. Categorize the bridges in Trondheim municipality based on the output from question 1 and list their failure profile based on question 2.
4. What are the main failure modes in the failure profile of the bridges with poor and very poor condition performance indicator?
These research questions are answered in chapter 6, “Conclusion and Further Studies”.
1.4 SCOPE OF THE PROJECT
The concept of this project is to present the bridge status in Trondheim based on the data from Norwegian Public Roads administration (SVV) and to introduce and discuss the relevant issues based on the results. Furthermore, the bridges with poor and very poor status are discussed in more detail. This understanding can lead to the development of operation, maintenance and inspection plans considering reliable, safe and cost-efficient approaches.
7 CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION
The scope of the work are listed below:
1. Categorize the bridge structures from different perspectives, including:
Material types
Age
Span height, length and /or headroom
Portability
Structure forms (design and construction).
Environment
Inspection assessment
Condition indicators
Applications and load type
Route supported and obstacles crossed
2. Describe the reliability and failure profile in bridge structures, including;
Lifetime performance characteristics, reliability and failure
Failure causes
Failure and deterioration mechanisms
Failure modes
Failure type
3. Case study for further discussions about the mentioned concepts and more detailed discussions regarding the bridges with poor and very poor status.
1.5 MOTIVATIONS
This report is written based on the following motivations:
1. Describe the definition of failure and reliability from structural perspective and their importance.
2. Provide an overall review regarding the bridge status in Trondheim, including the bridges with poor and very poor status.
3. Show how this information can be utilized not only in research studies but also in practical cases.
8 CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION
4. Personal interests in the field of maintenance and inspection, especially in civil and bridge engineering, made me to follow my supervisor’s recommendation for the specialization project and the master thesis.
1.6 PROJECT LIMITATIONS
The limitations faced in this project could be categorized as three above groups:
i) General limitations:
It is expected that the reader has the basic knowledge in the civil and bridge structures, inspection and maintenance.
In case of having more time for this project, it could be possible to discuss and analyze more concepts to broaden the research perspectives and also to study the discussions more in depth.
ii) Literature study limitations: The limitations regarding the literature study is explained in chapter 2 (under title 2.3 – Limitations).
iii) Case study limitations: The limitations regarding the case study is explained in chapter 4 (under title 4.2 – Case Study limitations, assumptions and possible source of errors).
1.7 REPORT STRUCTURE
The report has been written in four main parts in order to achieve the main objectives of the projects. The content of each part is explained below.
Part 1: INTRODUCTION
The first part contains the main basic information about the project report and an overview of the concepts and approaches.
Chapter 1. Introduction:
Provide an introduction regarding the background, objectives, motivations and limitations of the research project.
Explain about how the report is structured.
Describe the main research questions.
9 CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION