The challenge of bringing a dynamic character to structural inspections

Abstract

A safe and efficient transportation infrastructure system is vital to sustaining any nation’s economic and societal well-being. Bridges are especially vulnerable under conditions like natural or man-made hazards and are usually considered critical paths on the infrastructure network. Therefore, structural health assessment should be a primary issue in any bridge management program, especially considering that many infrastructure assets are becoming aged beyond their expected life-span. Present methods for structural condition evaluation of bridge structures rely heavily on on-site visual inspections of each structure. This article focuses on the possibilities offered by dynamic tests, advances in monitoring, communications and data processing, to complement and reinforce visual inspections, eliminating subjectivity and reaching, in real time, where the human eye cannot reach, so that bridge managers can decide how, where and when to act in a rational, objective and, hence, more efficient manner.