Development of a bridge management system incorporating a newly developed model for element condition evaluation based on damage effects

This article presents a comprehensive research project undertaken for the development of a bridge management system (BMS) for the General Directorate of Highways in Turkey, establishment of a prototype inspection program and the development of a new model, implemented within the BMS, for element condition state evaluation based on element damage types. As an introduction, a summary of the BMS development process is presented. Then, a detailed explanation of the newly developed model for element condition evaluation based on the effects of different damage types is given. The model presented herein extends the percentage-based condition state distribution for a bridge element to percentage and damage-based condition state distribution. This is achieved by considering all damage types a given bridge element may be subjected to. The model is already implemented into the newly developed BMS. It has been found that the newly implemented model will enable the inspector to more accurately define the condition state distribution of a bridge element taking into account both quantitative and qualitative characteristics of damage. Using the developed methodology and damage weight factors, it is possible to calculate a weighted condition state percentage distribution for a bridge element by taking into consideration the importance and urgency of different damage types.