Inspection and assessment of bridges in the framework of a Bridge Management System

At present a Bridge Management System (BMS) is being developed by the Federal Highway Research Institute. The BMS will be used by the Federal Ministry of Transport Building and Housing for collecting information about the condition of the bridge stock at network level, the prediction of the future maintenance expenditures and to realise strategies and targets in the frame of the maintenance practice. Furthermore the states should be enabled to generate information about maintenance activities on object level by using the BMS. The condition of bridges is one of the most important input parameters for the BMS. These data are collected during bridge main inspections which are carried out every 6 years according to DIN 1076. In the case of complex damage patterns additional information are necessary which are obtained by detailed analyses on object level. The paper deals with the role of these analyses in the framework of the BMS. Results of recent and ongoing research activities of BASt in the fields of Non Destructive Testing and Analytical Procedures are presented.