A framework for reliability assessment of an in-service bridge using structural health monitoring data

Because of the critical role that bridges play in land transport networks and broader economy, the assessment of existing bridges is gradually becoming a global concern. Structural health monitoring (SHM) systems have been installed on many bridges to provide data for the evaluation of bridge performance and safety. The challenge for bridge engineers is now to make use of the data and convert them into usable information and knowledge. Integrating SHM data with reliability analysis procedures offers a useful and practical methodology for bridge assessment since reliability is an important performance index and reliability-based procedures have the capability of accommodating uncertainties in structural models, responses, loads and monitoring data. In this paper, an approach for integrating SHM data in a reliability assessment framework is proposed. The reliability of the bridge is quantified by incorporating SHM information in the resistance, load and structural models. Advanced modeling tools and techniques, such as finite element analysis, finite model updating and Bayesian updating, are used for the reliability computations. Data from the SHM system installed on the Newmarket Viaduct, a newly constructed, 12-span, post-tensioned box girder bridge erected by the balanced cantilever method in Auckland, New Zealand, are also presented in this paper and used to explain the proposed framework.