Life-cycle Performance Assessment of RC Bridges with Maintenance Actions under Uncertainty

A probabilistic- and finite element-based approach to evaluate and predict the lifetime performance of RC bridges under various maintenance actions is proposed in this paper. The time-variant system reliability is utilized as performance indicator. According to the structural state during the degradation process, the classical maintenance actions for RC bridges are firstly categorized as four types: Preventive type I, Preventive type II, Strengthening and Replacement. The quantitative influence of these maintenance types on structural performance is investigated and the respective analysis modules are written and added into the computer program CBDAS. Accordingly, the time-variant system reliability can be calculated associated with Monte Carlo simulations and updated CBDAS. Finally, an existing RC continuous bridge located in Shanghai, China, is used as the illustrative example. The lifetime structural performance without and with each maintenance type are discussed.