Life Cycle Analysis of a Steel Railway Bridge over the Operational Period Considering Different Maintenance Scenarios: Application to a Case Study

In the context of bridge management, three main types of maintenance actions can be considered. Maintenance actions can be taken preventively before the predefined limit condition is reached, or as a corrective measure in case those limits have been reached. The third possibility corresponds to the so-called “doing nothing” scenario, in which no action is taken on the bridge. To be able to implement preventive maintenance, it is necessary to know the current condition of the bridge, as well as to be able to predict its performance. On the other hand, it is also important to be able to identify potentially threatening events that might occur in the analysis life period. This paper describes an integrated methodology to help bridge managers in defining an efficient maintenance program, considering the specific case of a railway bridge. The novelty of the methodology is focused on updating an existing methodology proposed by COST TU1406, by extending it to railway bridges and also by including the resilience analysis in case of a sudden event occurrence. The analysis considers a multi-hazard future scenario, in which a flood event occurs while corrosion phenomena were already in place. The results show the feasibility of the proposed methodology as a support for the establishment of an efficient maintenance schedule to prevent bridge severe degradation, as well as to establish recovery plans in case of a sudden event.