Citation

Fiorillo G, Ghosn M. Struct. Infrastruct. Eng. 2019; 15(1): 113-126.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/15732479.2018.1496119

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This paper proposes a risk analysis framework for the quantification of the importance to a highway network of bridges subjected to overweight traffic loads. First, the level of risk to the network is quantified taking into consideration current bridge safety levels and the consequences of their failures. A risk mitigation strategy is proposed through the calibration of importance factors that can be used during bridge design and rating processes to induce different levels of risk reduction in the network. The applicability of the method is illustrated through the analysis and the calibration of importance factors for bridges of a network composed by interstate highways and principal state roads in New York State (NYS) which includes 1,315 typical bridges. Analysis results show that traffic delays constitute the major consequence of bridge failure representing 61% of the total risk while the second major risk component is the maintenance of bridges that accounts for about 21%. It is also observed that the relationship between bridge importance factors and risk is well represented by a power law equation.

Language: en

Keywords

bridge networks; code calibration; consequences of failure; Correction; importance factors; Risk analysis; structural reliability