Considerations on defectation condition assessment

Abstract

Assessment of bridge condition implies a great responsibility both from the personnel involved in performing the operations and from the administrator of the bridges. Importance is given by the fact that based on the current condition as an overall index and on the observed degradations one may establish the works program indicating the afferent emergencies and costs.
In the assessment of the technical condition of the bridges in Romania a study has been conducted. This study involved specialists from CESTRIN and from GETEC Company from France. In a cooperation partnership jointly financed by Romanian National Administration of Roads (NAR) and French Minister of Finance, more than 1000 bridge from the national roads network were inspected. The project was carried out in the European Union pre-accession programs and it encloses the structures situated on the two pan-European corridors, which are covered by TINA (Transport Infrastructure Needs Assessment).
The two methods presented hereby have common characteristic but also differences. They both respect the general criteria for condition assessment by visual inspection but they differ by complexity and detail level.
In the method developed by GETEC, the inspection of a bridge has more objectives: knowing the assets and completion of existing databases; assessment of structural condition and the cost required for its restoration; determining the priority and emergency for sorting the maintenance and rehabilitation interventions.