Fleet health monitoring of large populations: Aged concrete T-beam bridges in Pennsylvania

The importance of rational decision-making for optimum resource distribution of civil infrastructure systems (CIS) management is well recognized. Bridges, serving as node points of the highway transportation system, are critical components of the nation's infrastructure. As the nation's bridge population is aging, management decisions must be based on an objective, complete, accurate and compatible information for maximum reliable bridge lifecycle, For bridges sharing common materials, similar geometric design attributes and behavior mechanisms, fleet-strategies for health monitoring would offer significant advantages. Improvements from fleet health monitoring would lead to objective engineering knowledge for optimal decision making. This paper provides an overview of fleet health monitoring concept, then summarizes an on-going research on re-qualification of reinforced concrete T-beam bridge population in Pennsylvania.