Reinforced concrete bridges in Vietnam - specific problems and proposed maintenance strategies

This paper reports on an investigation conducted on existing bridges in Vietnam. The evaluation approach includes visual inspections and non-destructive tests of concrete structures, personal interviews of site engineers in the field and reviews of available publications from the media and literature. The diagnostics confirm that the concrete is of low quality and shows many shortcomings, such as failure, damage, local defects and premature ageing. A series of diversified maintenance strategies is proposed to focus on both tactical and strategic levels. It is necessary to rectify current problems of concrete structures, to prevent such a collapse in future, and to enhance physical and serviceable conditions of existing bridges in Vietnam.