Submitted Abstract
Based on the existing know-how, the project aims to develop new practice-oriented testing and to propose new inspection procedures for bridges. The purpose is to monitor and to identify local faults or damages, even prior to cracking or in its very early stages. A special focus has to be put on compensation of real varying outdoor temperatures that are known to be a source of limitation of existing evaluation procedures and on numeric optimization by use of so-called macro-elements.This project is developed in a collaborative research work between University of Liège and University of Luxembourg. The main tasks include classic dynamic approaches, new methodology with First passage statistics, static and quasi-static approaches, the combination of indicators and model updating. Although several theoretical developments will be required as to the compensation and the detection of changes in the first passage map, the project hinges on an exceptional available test case. This opportunity consists in a part of the former Mersch-Bridge (Luxembourg) that has been removed and transported to the UL’s campus Belval.