| dc.description.abstract | Abstract
DER&U method is one of the fast and economic ways to perform visual inspections for bridges. In the DER&U methodology,“D”stands for degree of deterioration,“E”represents extent of the deterioration,“R”implies relevancy to safety of the deterioration, and“U”depicts urgency for repairing of the deterioration. However, the DER&U method was initially developed for inspecting concrete bridges. For cable stayed bridges, cable bridges, or arch bridges, the DER&U method is not immediately applicable due to their components are different from that of the concrete bridges. This causes problems for bridge management agencies that need to perform periodical inspection tasks for all kinds of bridges.
This research aims at developing a set of standard criteria for inspecting cable stayed bridges. Development of the criteria is based on the DER&U method. Some extra bridge components, such as cables and tower columns, are added to represent complexity of such bridges. Determining such extra components and their inspection criteria to properly represent conditions of the bridge are the major challenges in this research.
The inspection criteria for cable stayed bridges developed in this research can be incorporated into the “Taiwan Bridge Management System” (T-BMS) that is widely used by bridge management agencies in Taiwan. The developed methodology thus enriches information and functions provided by the T-BMS. | en_US |