Probabilistic risk assessment for the construction phases of a bridge construction based on finite element analysis

To develop a design, engineering, and construction management information sharing system that allow the project participants to effectively share the information throughout the construction life cycle with the support of 3D, design and building information, a "virtual construction" research project started in Korea. As a part of virtual simulation of construction processes, this paper deals with the quantitative risk assessment for the construction phases of the suspension bridge. The main objectives of the study are to evaluate the risks in a suspension bridge by considering an ultimate limit state for the fracture of main cable wires and to evaluate the risks for a limit state for the erection control during construction stages. While many researches have been evaluated the safety of constructed bridges, the uncertainties of construction phases have been ignored. Therefore, the statistical variation of input random variables is considered based on the quantitative results of finite element analysis for the construction phases of an example suspension bridge. The analyzed results have been compared with the conventional safety indices and allowable error for the control of deformations during construction. (c) 2007 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.