Impact of construction errors on the structural safety of a post-tensioned reinforced concrete bridge

The ageing of bridge stock in developed countries worldwide and the increasing number of recorded bridge collapses have underlined the need for more sophisticated and comprehensive assessment procedures concerning the safety and serviceability of structures. In many recent failures, construction errors or deficiencies have contributed to the unfortunate outcome either by depleting the safety margin or speeding up the deterioration rate of structures. This research aims to quantify the impact of construction errors on the structural safety of a bridge considering corresponding models available in the literature that probabilistically characterise the occurrence rate and severity of some of these errors. The nominal probability of failure of structures, neglecting construction errors, is typically computed in numerous works in the literature. Therefore, the novelty of this paper lies in the consideration of an additional source of uncertainty (i.e., construction errors) combined with sophisticated numerical methods leading to a more refined estimation of the probability of failure of structures. Accordingly, some benchmark results focussing on error-free and error-included scenarios are established, providing useful information to close the gap between the nominal and the actual probability of failure of a railway bridge.

Automated summary

The ageing of bridges in developed countries and the increase in bridge collapses have highlighted the need for more sophisticated assessment procedures for structural safety. This research aims to quantify the impact of construction errors on the safety of a bridge by considering probabilistic models characterizing the occurrence rate and severity of these errors. The novelty of this paper lies in considering the additional uncertainty of construction errors and using refined numerical methods to estimate the probability of failure more accurately.