Guideline for the strategic application of monitoring of road bridges in Germany

• Published in: E-journal of Nondestructive Testing Vol. 29; no. 7
• Main Authors: Wedel, Frederik, Pitters, Sarah, Herrmann, Ralf, Schneider, Ronald, Hille, Falk, Hindersmann, Iris
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.07.2024
• ISSN: 1435-4934; 1435-4934
• DOI: 10.58286/29582

Engineering structures are an important part of our transport infrastructure. Their failure is associated with high safety risks and economic damage. Ensuring the availability of these constructions and guaranteeing their operational safety are thus important tasks. Currently, maintenance of engineering structures is a reactive process and therefore not yet a predictive process. Every 3 to 6 years, the structures are visually inspected, all damages are documented and a condition grade is assigned to the structure based on the detected damages. Continuous data-providing methods such as monitoring are used only very occasionally. With the help of monitoring, condition data about the structures are continuously collected, which can be used for a better assessment of the structures. On the one hand, this would increase safety of engineering structures, and on the other hand, it makes the shift towards predictive maintenance management based on real-time data and predictions, where the onset of damage is detected before it occurs, possible in the first place. Monitoring plays therefore an important role in the management of the infrastructure. It is a crucial a step towards the digitalisation of our infrastructure and existing processes. Although there are many use cases for monitoring that have already been successfully implemented, monitoring is not yet widely used by German road authorities due to several challenges that were also identified within the scope of the project. Therefore, a guide has been developed in which the current obstacles related to monitoring are identified and possibilities for integrating monitoring into existing processes are offered. To ensure optimal alignment with the needs of road authorities, both an online survey and a workshop have been conducted. The results are summarised in a brochure that is made available to authorities to improve the use of monitoring in Germany. This paper presents the guideline and the brochure.