Model for the Physical Risk Assessment of Bridges with Unknown Foundation
Publication: Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 21, Issue 1
Abstract
State highway officials are often put in situations that require them to make difficult decisions, some literally involve life or death. Among these are decisions dealing with bridges that may have structural, scour, or seismic problems. This paper proposes a risk index that assesses risk and prioritizes bridges with unknown foundations. Primary risk parameters and their factors for bridges with unknown foundations were identified and analyzed, and a model for calculating was designed. Data were collected for ten bridges from Florida, Indiana, and New York for use in case studies. Two application methods for the model were used to assess : (1) the abstract model; and (2) the detailed model). Courses of action based on are discussed for various bridges. The model was validated using a holistic evaluation method, which proved to be robust in risk assessment. Although this paper is written to assist bridge managers in assessing risk and prioritizing activities, the research results shared in this paper are relevant to both researchers and practitioners. The paper provides practitioners with a tool for evaluating and ranking their bridges based on risk and provides researchers with risk parameters and factors, a model to evaluate this risk, and a methodology of quantifying the qualitative effect of subjective factors.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The writers would like to express their gratitude to the Florida, Indiana, Ohio, and New York DOTs for their generous contribution of time, energy, and knowledge to this study. They would also like to extend their gratitude to all the bridge engineers who facilitated the writers’ research and participated in the study.
References
Al-Bahar, J. F., and Crandall, K. C. (1990). “Systematic risk management approach for construction projects.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 116(3), 533–546.
Chajes, M. J., Kaliakin, V. N., and Ward, A. P. (2000). “Seismic screening and retrofitting of Delaware’s bridges.” Rep. No. DTI 117, Dept. of Transportation Institute, Univ. of Delaware, Newark, Del.
Chen, H., Rao, A. R., Lyn, D. A., and Altschaeffl, A. G. (2000). “Evaluation of scour and stream stability by using CAESAR.” FHWA/IN/JTRP-2000/11, Project No. C-36-62I, Ind.
Dias, A., Jr., and Ioannou, P. G. (1996). “Company and project evaluation model for privately promoted infrastructure projects.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 122(1), 71–82.
Elias, V. (1994). “Strategies for managing unknown bridge foundations.” FHWA-RD-92-030.
Jaafari, A., and Schub, A. (1990). “Surviving failure: Lessons from field study.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 116(1), 68–86.
Pearson, D., Stein, S., and Jones, J. S. (2002). “HYRISK methodology and user guide.” FHWA-RD-02-XXX.
Rao, et al. (2000).
Romero, S., Rix, G. J., and French, S. P. (2000). “Transportation routes in soils susceptible to ground failure: New Madrid seismic zone.” Transportation Research Record 1736, Transport Research Board, Washington, D.C., 127–133.
Saaty, T. L. (1980). The analytic hierarchy process, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Zayed, T. M., and Chang, L. M. (2002). “Prototype model for build-operate-transfer risk assessment.” J. Manage. Eng., 18(1), 7–16.
Zayed, T. M., and Halpin, D. W. (2004). “Quantitative assessment for piles productivity factors.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 130(3), 405–414.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2007 ASCE.
History
Received: Oct 19, 2005
Accepted: Mar 8, 2006
Published online: Feb 1, 2007
Published in print: Feb 2007
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.