Performance indicators for an objective assessment and through-life management of bridges and tunnels

The life cycle management process for new and existing concrete structures involves condition control which is the overall process for safeguarding the condition of a structure during its lifetime, and includes condition survey, performance assessment as well as for the evaluation of maintenance strategies. Management systems that capture deterioration processes are used in connection with analyses, however they are usually based on deterministic performance prediction models that describe the future condition through a functional correlation between structure condition characteristics, such as the age of the structure, and the characteristics of mechanical, chemical and physical processes or agents. With increasing experience with the use of surveying technologies for acquiring information related to the current condition of bridges and tunnels, there is an ongoing shift towards data-informed approaches to condition control. The identification and implementation of key performance indicators may improve existing assessment methods within management system of transport infrastructure. The H2020 CSA IM-SAFE project aims to characterize and systematize performance indicators for bridge structures and tunnel systems. In the context of the use of monitoring systems for condition survey, the IM-SAFE project aims to provide background for the use of performance indicators for bridges and tunnels and to clarify how performance indicators are / should be linked to observations and implemented in performance and risk assessment, making use of performance and risk modeling, analysis and prediction methods. In this contribution, the systematized performance indicators for bridge and tunnel systems are be presented and case studies are used to show in which way performance indicators can be coupled with risk-based performance requirements, data-informed performance assessment methods and inspection and monitoring concepts. (C) Feération Internationale du Béton - International Federation for Structural Concrete.