Maintenance and monitoring - Permanent monitoring in order to optimize the operating life of a bridge

The operating life of bridges depends on the load spectrum, structure type, construction material, boundary conditions as well as on the periodic inspections. In view of future investments concerning new bridge constructions, the knowledge of actual bridge condition is crucially important. Especially, in case of partially damaged old bridges it is hard to arrive at a decision concerning rebuilt, retrofit or ongoing operation without any modifications. From the economic point of view, the aim is an optimized operating life coupled with minimal risk against bridge collapse and a high safety. In the presented paper the installation of a permanent Structural Health Monitoring system is proposed to optimize the operating life of an Austrian pre-stressed road bridge. The actual state of the bridge is evaluated by static and dynamic FE-analysis as well as a performed proof load test. The installed monitoring systems provides permanent information about the changing bridge state and in case of exceeding the limit states an emergency plan rules the responsibilities.