| dc.description.abstract | Bridge design should take into account not only safety and functionality, but also the
cost effectiveness of investments throughout a bridge life-cycle. This work presents a
probabilistic approach to compute the life-cycle cost (LCC) of corroding reinforced
concrete (RC) bridges in earthquake prone regions. The approach is developed by
combining cumulative seismic damage and damage associated to corrosion due to
environmental conditions. Cumulative seismic damage is obtained from a low-cycle
fatigue analysis. Chloride-induced corrosion of steel reinforcement is computed based
on Fick’s second law of diffusion.
The proposed methodology accounts for the uncertainties in the ground motion
parameters, the distance from source, the seismic demand on the bridge, and the
corrosion initiation time. The statistics of the accumulated damage and the cost of
repairs throughout the bridge life-cycle are obtained by Monte-Carlo simulation. As an
illustration of the proposed approach, the effect of design parameters on the life-cycle
cost of an example RC bridge is studied. The results are shown to be valuable in better
estimating the condition of existing bridges (i.e., total accumulated damage at any given
time) and, therefore, can help schedule inspection and maintenance programs. In addition, by taking into consideration the deterioration process over a bridge life-cycle, it
is possible to make an estimate of the optimum design parameters by minimizing, for
example, the expected cost throughout the life of the structure. | en |
