Article Article
Condition Assessment Based on Visual Inspection and Nondestructive Evaluation of Highway Bridges in Turkey

Transportation system of each country has a vital role in financial, social and cultural development of that country. The efficiency of a highway transportation system is mainly dependent on the efficiency of its bridge network. In today’s world, maintaining the existing bridges of a country is a difficult task and needs a developed bridge management system. Condition assessment of bridges is the first step in each bridge management system and it is mainly performed based on visual inspection of bridges. Visual inspection of bridges is a subjective process and, therefore, it should be supplemented by other evaluation techniques. In this study, a novel bridge management system is developed for the republic of Turkey and condition assessment of bridges are performed based on visual inspections. For validating the results of visual condition assessments, nondestructive tests are also applied on selected bridges. Three different nondestructive methods including four different devices are used for nondestructive evaluation of these bridges. Compressive strength of concrete, quality of concrete and corrosion of reinforcement inside concrete are measured. The results indicate a good level of correlation between visual condition assessments and the nondestructive evaluations of bridges.

References
1. F. Akgül, and F. Masoumi, “Evaluation of Condition States of Bridge Elements Based on the Intensity of Different Damage Types,” ACE 10th International Congress on Advances in Civil Engineering, Ankara, Turkey 2012 . 2. F. Akgül, and F. Masoumi, “Optimization of Maintenance, Repair and Rehabilitation Actions in a Novel Bridge Management System,” ACE 10th International Congress on Advances in Civil Engineering, Ankara, Turkey 2012. 3. Washer, G. (1999) “Developing NDT Technologies for Highway Bridges,” Materials Evaluation, American Society for Nondestructive Testing, Columbus, OH. 4. Lenett, M. S., Greisman A., Helmicki and A.J, Aktan A.E. (1999) “Subjective and Objective Evaluations of Bridge Damage,” paper no. 99-0411 in Transportation Research Record 1688, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, Washington, DC. 5. James Instruments (2014) “Non-destructive testing equipment for concrete,” NDT James Instruments, Inc., www.ndtjames.com (Accessed Mar 3, 2014). 6. IAEA (2002) “Guidebook on non-destructive testing of concrete structures,” International Atomic Energy Agency, Training Course Series No. 17.
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