Concrete railway bridges : taxonomy of degradation mechanisms and damages identified by NDT methods

Abstract

The aim of this work is creating basis for unified and more objective assessment of bridge condition and for application of expert tools in evaluation process. The degradation processes and the relevant NDT techniques are presented on the background of the causes and the effects of these processes, taking into account: factors which influence degradation processes, mechanisms of degradation and effects of degradation with proposed methodology of identification and classification of the damages in concrete bridge structures. The proposed uniform taxonomy of degradation processes of the concrete railway bridges as well as presented analysis of the available NDT methods can be applied in evaluation of bridge condition and in modelling of structure lifetime.