A bridge management system applied to a set of Portuguese bridges

Abstract

Bridge Management Systems are very important to assure the desired levels of functionality and safety in existing bridges. This paper presents an informatic tool, called REGpontes, prepared to guide the management of Portuguese highway bridges. The tool can help to organize the large amount of technical and socio-economic information associated to a group of bridges. Furthermore it also allows automatically processing that data and classifying each bridge, globally and in terms of structural safety, serviceability and essentiality for public use. The application of the REGpontes to a sample of Portuguese bridges is also presented. The cla ssification values calculated for each bridge are shown and analysed. Those values are also compared taking into consideration their relation with the main structural material and the major dimensions of the bridges. From the results of that application, some general conclusions about Portuguese reality are also referred.