Special Sessions

SS 01 Short-span bridges and culverts: analysis, evaluation, durability, and rehabilitation

Damian Beben Opole University of Technology, Poland

Halil Sezen Ohio State University, USA

Jan Vaslestad Norwegian University of Life Sciences / Norwegian Public Roads Administration, Norway

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Tomasz Maleska Opole University of Technology, Poland

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Short-span bridges and culverts are increasingly becoming part of the transportation infrastructure in various parts of the world. However, in many cases, small bridges and culverts are neglected due to their short spans. Therefore, this special session covers the analysis, evaluation, durability, and rehabilitation of all types of culverts (metal, concrete, and plastic) and short-span bridges (vaulted, integral, and buried). Presentations on experimental and numerical analyzes of such structures under various loads (static, dynamic, fatigue, seismic and anthropogenic) as well as innovative methods of construction and renovation are also welcome in the session. For this reason, the special session is part of the current trends in bridge engineering.

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SS 02 Bridge Weigh-in-Motion: recent experiences, technology developments, and new applications

Daniel Cantero Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway

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Bridge Weigh-in-Motion (BWIM) turns a bridge into a weighing scale for passing vehicles. Bridge responses are used to estimate individual axle weights of vehicles traversing the bridge at normal operational speed. This established idea has still room for potential developments in terms of its technology and its applications. This special session is aimed at studies reporting experiences on the implementation of this technology, ideally highlighting new developments and improvements. Relevant topics might include: installation on suboptimal bridge types, use of alternative sensing technologies (e.g. fibre Bragg, accelerometers), measurement of alternative load effects (e.g. rotations, support reactions), improved algorithms and novel approaches (e.g. machine learning) for BWIM technology. In addition, this session welcomes investigations on novel applications of BWIM installations and the use of the gathered traffic information towards bridge maintenance and structural health monitoring.

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SS 03 Estimating future preventive bridge interventions

Bryan T. Adey Institute of Construction & Infrastructure Management, Switzerland

Hamed Mehranfar Institute of Construction & Infrastructure Management, Switzerland

Steven Chuo Institute of Construction & Infrastructure Management, Switzerland

The farther ahead in time bridge managers can estimate the interventions required on their bridges the better. Improvements in intervention estimation capabilities help ensure that interventions can be conducted that minimize disruptions to service. This session is focused on discussing both the state-of-practice and the state-of-the-art in tools and methods to make these predictions. We are interested in papers discussing the current ways these predictions are being made inside organisations that manage roads and rails, in papers discussing the state of current bridge management systems, and papers discussing ways that these estimates could be improved in the future.

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SS 04 Advances in Machine Learning and Data-Driven System Identification Techniques for Structural Health Monitoring

Javier Diaz-Rozo Aingura IIoT, Spain

Concha Bielza Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain

Carlos Ocampo-Martinez Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Spain

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Pedro Larrañaga Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain

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This special session focuses on using machine learning (ML) and data-driven system identification (SysID) techniques in structural health monitoring (SHM), addressing challenges and opportunities. The session aims to showcase novel ML algorithms, data-driven techniques for SysID, integration of ML and/or SysID with traditional and recent SHM methods, real-world applications of ML or SysID in SHM, reliability assessment, interpretability and explainability in ML for SHM, edge and cloud computing as key enablers for applications of ML and SysID in SHM, and benchmarking of ML methods for SHM. Papers discussing the problem area, research directions, and practical applications in SHM are encouraged.

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SS 05 Underground and above-ground infrastructure resilience and sustainability

Marco Domaneschi Politecnico di Torino, Italy

Bernardino Chiaia Politecnico di Torino, Italy

Giuseppe Carlo Marano Politecnico di Torino, Italy

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Valentina Villa Politecnico di Torino, Italy

Sotirios Argyroudis Brunel University London, United Kingdom

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Transport infrastructure is considered essential for economic development, territorial cohesion and social transformation. The evolution in conditions of use (e.g., because of climate change or man-made phenomena) is expected to affects newly designed infrastructure, which may come into service years later, when conditions under current regulations and engineering practice may have changed. Overlapping with this are the innovative aspects of the standard engineering practice, such as resilience, sustainability and life-cycle extension requirements, and thus also monitoring and planned maintenance.
This session would promote the discussion of research results and design experiences regarding the above-mentioned aspects of underground and above-ground transport infrastructure.

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SS 06 Forensic Engineering and Damaged Structures. Critical Cases Studies and Lesson Learned of LATAM road bridges

Matías A. Valenzuela Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Chile

Marcelo Marquez Ministry of Public Works, Chile

Fernando Cerda LIND Engineering, Chile

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Galo Valdebenito Universidad Autral, Chile

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The collapse of bridges generates a huge problem of human and economic costs. For this reason, in recent years in Chile and LATAM, forensic engineering has been studied to obtain lessons learned from these collapses, from the point of view of the life cycle of the structures. This MS/SS provides case studies and research in Latin America, which allow assessing the lessons learned, in the following disciplines:
•        Traditional and singular bridges,
•        Analysis and modeling,
•        Destructive tests, NDT and instrumentation,
•        Inspection protocols
•        Technical specification and equipment, and
•        Improvement and recovery procedures of the structure.

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SS 07 Vehicle-Based Sensing Solutions for Indirect Bridge Condition Monitoring

Robert Corbally University College Dublin, Ireland

Abdollah Malekjafarian University College Dublin, Ireland

Steven Robert Lorenzen TU Darmstadt, Germany

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Chul-Woo Kim Kyoto University, Japan

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Traditional methods for monitoring bridges and pavements are generally costly and time consuming and not suitable for network-wide monitoring. As such, there has been a move towards ‘drive-by’ techniques using sensors located within and attached to vehicles. Recent advances have focused on crowd-sensing of data, or ‘fleet monitoring’ approaches which leverage data from multiple vehicles, often incorporating machine learning techniques.
The session will focus on, but is not limited to, the following topics:
• Bridge damage detection and health monitoring (highway and railway bridges)
• Identification of bridge modal properties
• Road pavement health monitoring methods
• Railway track health monitoring methods

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SS 08 Posttension Analysis, Design, and Assessment in Bridge Construction

Upul Attanayake Western Michigan University, USA

Haluk Aktan Western Michigan University, USA

Michael LaViolette Stantec, United States

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Corey Rogers National Bridge Inspection and Preservation Leader, USA

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The topics related to posttension analysis, design, construction, and assessment are not new to bridge engineers, contractors, and owner agencies. The body-of-knowledge is growing with the advancement of technology; the needs for managing large networks of infrastructure; and the new infrastructure development projects in many parts of the world.  Yet, many unknowns, limitations and challenges remain.  This session will aggregate the state-of-the-art and practice, lessons learned, performance assessment, and research to broaden the existing body-of-knowledge.

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SS 09 New Concepts and Approaches in Bridge Management – BIM Based Bridge Management, Artificial Intelligence, and other New Concepts Influencing Future BMS

Reed M. Ellis Stantec Consulting International Ltd., Canada

Rade Hajdin Infrastructure Management Consultants GmbH, Schwitzerland

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Başak Bektaş Minnesota State University, Mankato

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This Special Session is organized by the IABMAS Technical Committee on Bridge Management and focuses on New Concepts and Approaches to Bridge Management including BIM-based Bridge Management, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and other new concepts. New technologies have made it possible to take new innovative approaches to bridge management.
Examples on how these technologies are being used or can be used for model improvement (e.g., deterioration models or resource allocation algorithms) are especially welcome. Also of interest, are studies that explore interactions between these technologies and bridge management decision making in general.
This session this session offers an opportunity to exchange new ideas in these exiting new areas as it is expected that future BMS will be incorporating many of these new ideas.

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SS 10 Artificial Intelligence for uncertainty, risk, and reliability assessment of Bridge infrastructure

Doeun Choe New Mexico State University, USA

Milad Roohi University of Nebraska–Lincoln, USA

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Machine Learning (ML) and Deep Learning (DL) employ ‘statistical’ methodologies to analyze and process data. Their mathematical foundations enable us to measure and quantify uncertainties in modeling and
decision-making for engineering systems. The special session will focus on research related to ML or DL developments applied to advance the knowledge of uncertainty, risk, and reliability assessment at various
levels, e.g., system, components, or parameters, to improve the resilience of bridge infrastructure. The symposium will explore topics including, but not limited to, predicting structural reliability, analyzing
bridge networks, and predicting/detecting deterioration/damage in bridges and other structures where ML/DL takes a role in identifying and/or addressing uncertainties.

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SS 11 Approaches to Bridge Management / Bridge Management Systems in Response to Today’s Challenges

Reed M. Ellis Stantec Consulting International Ltd., Canada

Rade Hajdin Infrastructure Management Consultants GmbH, Schwitzerland

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This Special Session is organized by the IABMAS Technical Committee on Bridge Management and focuses on approaches to Bridge Management / Bridge Management Systems (BMS) in response to today’s challenges, such as climate change and risk management. It will highlight the following topics and how these approaches can benefit bridge owners:
- new BMS implementation case studies to meet today’s challenges,
- how BMS are being used to meet challenges as result of climate change leading to more resilient infrastructure,
- approaches to Bridge Management incorporating risk management / risk-based decision making,
- case studies of how BMS are being used to measure and report performance,
- case studies of how BMS are being used to program bridge projects and develop budgets, and
- long-term cost analysis. 
Papers describing experiences and lessons learned in new BMS implementation projects from around the world are encouraged together with case studies of benefits for bridge management. Insights into challenges in implementing bridge management and BMS are also welcome.
The participation of Bridge Management and BMS experts from around the world will ensure that this session offers a real state-of-the-art view of the topic while providing a venue for exchange and sharing of experiences and new ideas.

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SS 12 Realising the extension of BIM for existing bridges

Nigel Powers National Transport Research Organisation, Australia

Vanja Samec Independent Bridge and BIM Consultant, Austria

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Matias Andres Valenzuela Saavedra Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Chile

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Building Information Modelling (BIM) for bridges has shown great promise to help infrastructure managers efficiently and effectively manage their bridge assets. Realising these benefits has so far been mostly limited to major bridge structures and not more broader to smaller and/or existing bridge structures. This session will explore current international best practice in BIM for existing bridges and discuss opportunities to realise the potential for all bridge structures.

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SS 13 Design, Construction and Evaluation of Steel/FRP & Concrete Composite Bridge Structures

Haohui Xin Xi’an Jiaotong University, China

Xiaoqing Xu Tongji University, China

Rong Liu Hohai University, China

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Jun He Changsha University of Science and Technology, China

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The main objective of composite concept is to find innovative structures to make the bridges elegant and cost competitive. Steel/FRP & concrete composite structures have been extensively applied in bridge constructions due to the benefits of combining different constructional materials. The aim of this special session is to report on recent advances and successful applications of Steel/FRP & Concrete Composite Bridge Structures. The session welcomes contributions that cover, but are not limited to, case studies, failure analysis, buckling analysis, fatigue life prediction, durability evaluation, bridge management and maintenance.

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SS 15 Steel Bridge Rehabilitation

Masahiro Sakano Hashimori Support Center, Japan

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In this special session, papers on evaluation, assessment, repair and retrofit of fatigue and corrosion damage in steel highway and railway bridges are presented and discussed. We have a huge number of steel highway and railway bridge structures especially in the urban area and across rivers and straits. Some of those bridges suffer various types of fatigue and corrosion damage, but replace of them should be too expensive, and restriction or close of the traffic could be hardly allowed. Therefore, rehabilitation of those structures becomes of great importance in the very near future.

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SS 16 Redundancy in Bridges: Design, Fabrication and Bridge Maintenance

Ardalan Mosavi WSP, USA

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Collapse of a number of steel bridges in the United States including the point pleasant bridge in 1967, Mianus River Bridge in 1983 and the interstate 35W bridge in more recent history has highlighted the importance of redundancy in bridge design and resulted in evolving design codes and inspection standards to enforce additional manufacturing and more stringent inspection and maintenance provisions for the identified “fracture critical” and non-redundant bridges in the United States. This special session intends to invite presentations from research and practicing engineers to highlight the most recent advancement in bridge design, fabrication and bridge maintenance for including and taking advantage of different forms of redundancy within the bridge elements and systems.

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SS 17 Integrating digital twin with machine-learning techniques for structural damage identification

Javier Fernando Jiménez-Alonso University of Sevilla, Spain

Ivan Duvnjak University of Zagreb, Croatia

Iván Muñoz Díaz Polytechnic University of Madrid, Spain

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Although bridges are infrastructures with a great economic and social value, however, many of these structural assets are in poor conservation conditions as the worldwide collapse of some of them has recently shown. Nowadays, the use of the digital twin technology has aroused the interest of the bridge community (both practitioner engineers and researchers) as a potential tool to assist in the management of these infrastructures. For this purpose, the main objective of this special session is to collect the state-of-the-art together with the last trends about how bridgeinformation-modelling, finite-element-model updating, vibration-based health structural health monitoring and machine-learning are integrated both to create digital twin models and to implement these models for the damage identification in bridges.

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SS 18 Human-Bridge Managing Interfaces through digital twinning

Rolando Chacón UPC-BarcelonaTech, Spain

Irina Stipanovic INFRAPLAN, Croatia

Joan R. Casas UPC-BarcelonaTech, Spain

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Presently, user interfaces are becoming increasingly sophisticated, making it easier for people to interact with technology. Bridges are vital infrastructures for society, serving as essential transportation routes for people and goods. However, managing and maintaining these bridges can be a complex and challenging task. This is where human-bridges interfaces can play a significant role in encompassing the management, measurements, simulation, and assessment of bridges at the right time. By utilizing sophisticated user interfases such as new generation digital twins that are intuitive and user-friendly, engineers and managers can better monitor and maintain the condition of bridges, ensuring their safety and longevity for years to come.The session welcomes papers dealing with the digitalisation in relation to management of the existing bridge stocks.

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SS 20 Sensing technology and data processing algorithm towards bridge life-cycle maintenance and safety

Hongya Qu Tongji University, China

Chuanrui Guo Shenzhen University, China

Haibin Zhang Hainan University, China

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Bridges are subjected to natural and man-made disasters along with aging and deterioration process over the structure lifetime. The number of bridges in the world today is estimated to be around 600,000, and deteriorating bridges are becoming a challenging issue worldwide. As extreme events have occurred more frequently and more severely, bridges are loaded beyond their in-service conditions and thus experience structural damage.
Therefore, the aim of this special session is to report on recent advances and successful applications of sensing technologies and data processing algorithms for damage identification of bridges, which provides certain references for life cycle maintenance strategy and safety evaluation. This special session welcomes topics that focus on, but not limited to: smart sensors, data processing algorithms, system identification methods, extreme events, and computational approaches.

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SS 22 Advancements in Intelligent Monitoring and Maintenance of Bridge Infrastructure

Sujeeva Setunge RMIT University, Australia

Amir Alani Kingstone University, United Kingdom

Gholamreza Heravi University of Tehran, Iran

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Ranjith Dissanayake University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

Thanh Bui-Tien University of Transport and Communications, Vietnam

Mojtaba Mahmoodian RMIT University, Australia

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Amir Sidiq RMIT University, Australia

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Inspection, monitoring and maintenance of bridges can significantly be improved by using advanced technologies and novel approaches. Reliable and cost-effective monitoring and maintenance of bridges is of significant interests for bridge asset owners. With the advancements in technologies such as Internet of Things, wireless sensors, drone technology, computer modelling, GPR, Interferometric Synthetic-Aperture Radar (InSAR) Satellite Imaging, image processing and 3D visualisation techniques, bridges can be monitored and maintained more efficiently. This special session attracts research papers and case studies on adopting new technologies for intelligent monitoring and maintenance of bridges during the whole life cycle (construction and operation) of a bridge. It also covers developments and applications of intelligent maintenance systems, novel bridge health monitoring, digital twins, defect detection technologies, bridge resilience and advanced maintenance prioritisation and optimisation techniques used in bridge engineering.

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SS 23 Structural Health Diagnosis Under Limited Supervision for Large Bridges

Yang XU Harbin Institute of Technology, China

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Structural health monitoring for large bridges has recently obtained vigorous development with advanced deep learning and computer vision techniques. However, the identification accuracy and generalization ability of data-driven models highly rely on the quality and diversity of collected samples. In contrast, data quality and pattern diversity are usually limited under real-world scenarios. This special session aims to provide a forum to share cutting-edge theoretical, computational, and experimental progress about structural health diagnosis under limited supervision for large bridges, mainly including incomplete data-driven structural health monitoring, damage recognition, condition assessment, change detection, and 3D reconstruction.

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SS 25 Vulnerability assessment and retrofit of in-service bridges: contributions and experiences

Marco Domaneschi Politecnico di Torino, Italy

Raffaele Cucuzza Politecnico di Torino, Italy

Giuseppe Andrea Ferro Politecnico di Torino, Italy

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Stergios Mitoulis University of Birmingham, United Kingdom

Mohammad Noori California Polytechnic State University, USA

Valentina Villa Politecnico di Torino, Italy

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In-service bridges are recognized as critical components of the transportation infrastructure being for the most part in operation for many years (degradation, outdated regulations, operating conditions other than design ones, e.g. vehicles an effects of climate change). Hence the importance of assessing their vulnerability of existing bridges in order to identify critical situations where allocate available resources. In this context, an intervention prioritization strategy and the development of innovative retrofitting techniques assume strategic importance, as well as the implementation of innovative SHM solutions. This session is organized under the auspices of FABRE (www.consorziofabre.it).

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SS 26 Risk-Informed Decision Making and Asset Management of Highway Bridge Portfolios

Ao Du The University of Texas at San Antonio, USA

Xiaowei Wang Tongji University, China

Abdollah Shafieezadeh The Ohio State University, USA

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Highway bridge portfolios are constantly facing external stressors such as natural disasters, extreme weather events, and aging deterioration. Making proactive maintenance decisions to best preserve or improve the bridge asset performance over a prolonged planning time horizon is a challenging task. This Special Session invites researchers to present their recent achievement in risk-informed bridge asset management. Pertinent topics include (but not limited to):
• Probabilistic bridge structural integrity and condition estimation, and risk assessment for bridge portfolios under various external stressors;
• Proactive maintenance decision-making over a prolonged planning period;
• Case studies and best practices based on real-world bridge asset management activities.

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SS 27 Life‐Cycle Performance Safety, Reliability, and Risk of Bridges and Infrastructure Systems under Climate Change

Fabio Biondini Politecnico di Milano, Italy

Zoubir Lounis National Research Council Canada, Canada

Michel Ghosn The City College of New York, USA

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There is strong evidence that climate change will have significant impact on the long‐term performance of structures and infrastructure facilities. However, recently‐implemented risk‐informed performance‐based design methods were founded on historic hazard data and the effects of climate change are not considered in current structural design standards. The objective of this Special Session is to overview current knowledge on the subject and present recent research advances on how to consider the effects of climate change on the life‐cycle performance of civil structures and infrastructure systems, with emphasis on bridges and transportation networks. The overall goals of this Special Session are to: 1) promote a better understanding of the problem; 2) identify approaches to account for the effects of climate change during the design of new bridges and the safety assessment of existing bridges, including impact at the infrastructure scale; and 3) propose approaches for incorporating the effects of climate change in design standards. This Session is part of a Special Project approved and supported by SEI/ASCE to study the “Effect of Climate Change on the Life‐Cycle Performance, Safety, Reliability and Risk of Structures and Infrastructure Systems”. The project will review the current status and outline research needs to incorporate the effects of climate change in the design and the life‐cycle assessment of performance, safety, reliability and risk of structure and infrastructure systems.

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SS 28 Probability-Based Life-cycle Design Analysis of Bridge Engineering

Lei Wang Changsha University of Science and Technology, China

Jianxin Peng Changsha University of Science and Technology, China

Jun He Changsha University of Science and Technology, China

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Weiwei Lin Aalto University, Finland

Xiaoyi Zhou Southeast University, USA

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In social development and economic activities, bridge structures play an important role.  Bridge systems, due to their inherent vulnerability, are at risk from aging, fatigue and deterioration processes due to aggressive chemical attacks and other physical damage mechanisms. The time-invariant structural design criteria and methodologies need to account for a proper modeling of the bridge system over its entire life-cycle by considering the effects of deterioration processes, time-variant loadings, and maintenance and repair interventions under uncertainty, thus to extend the service life of the bridge systems.
The aim of this special session is to attract state-of-the-art research focusing on the probability based life-cycle design and assessment of bridge systems, including theory, method, and practice. The session welcomes contributions that cover, but are not limited to, 1) Advanced theoretical framework for the probability based life-cycle design of bridge systems; 2) Life-cycle analysis of bridge structures based on reliability approach; 3) Life-cycle performance assessment and improvement strategies of bridge structures; 4) Bridge management and maintenance strategies throughout the entire life cycle; 5) Case studies on life-cycle design and assessment of bridge systems.

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SS 29 Risk-based assessment and prioritization of bridge stocks

Nicola Scattarreggia University School for Advanced Studies IUSS Pavia, Italy

Ricardo Monteiro University School for Advanced Studies IUSS Pavia, Italy

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Bridges are a key component of road networks and, for this reason, their closure or collapse may cause serious economic and social losses. A proper level of safety/operativity has thus to be assured. However, in a world where resources are limited, bridge owners or operators may need to use prioritization rankings within a network to identify the critical assets for maintenance/retrofitting to guarantee a pre-defined level of performance. This session aims to showcase and discuss methods for the management of bridge stocks considering both single and multi-hazard assessment. The session welcomes original contributions on novel research approaches, case studies or advanced discussions on the risk assessment of large bridge stocks, such as:
• Simplified or detailed risk management methods for prioritization
• Single or multi-hazard risk assessment approaches
• Simplified indicators for definition of bridge deterioration, network resilience, bridge priority in networks, based on either vulnerability or exposure
• Strategies for mitigation of hazards effects
• Tools for risk-based assessment and management of bridge networks

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SS 30 Virtual Inspection

Poul Linneberg COWI, Denmark

Svend Gjerding Sund & Bælt Holding A/S, Denmark

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Scope: Operation and Maintenance (O&M) of bridges are undergoing a digital transformation. Today, most inspections of civil structures are done on-site challenged by traffic restrictions, difficult access- and working conditions, and high initial costs (lift, rope access, etc.). With high-quality RGB - and thermal imagery captured by drones etc., a Reality Model or a visual Digital Twin of the structure may be created, and a Virtual Inspection can be carried out revisiting the structure when needed. Combining the Reality Model with Artificial Intelligence (AI) for damage detection and monitoring data from implemented sensors on a web-based platform might be the solution to find the optimal point in time for repair, increase the level of safety (for bridge users and O&M personnel), and minimize traffic disturbance. Working with a Reality Model may also decrease the level of subjectivity and increase the level of transparency in decision-making as well as provide efficient means of communication. Despite the many advantages, some challenges remain. They are related to e.g., the reality capture process, AI training, data processing, -presentation, and -integration (also with data-enriched 3D BIM models for recent bridges) in current asset management systems.

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SS 31 O&M of Major Bridges

Robert Percy COWI, Denmark

Jakob Laigaard Jensen COWI, Denmark

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Scope: O&M of Major Bridges is a specialist O&M-discipline in itself covering a range of interesting sub-topics such as fatigue crack development in orthotropic steel decks, hazard planning incl. fire protection of cables, dehumidification, strategic management of important bridges incl. cable replacement. All sub-topics where a long and continuous presence and understanding of each major bridge plays an important role. Furthermore, the experience from O&M of existing major bridges should be incorporated into the planning and design of new major bridges for optimal O&M. 

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SS 32 Data-driven asset management

Isaac Farreras Alcover COWI

Mogens Saberi COWI

Jan Winkler AtkinsRéalis I DES, Poland

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Scope: Transportation infrastructure supports economic growth and quality of life for citizens. Optimal technical and economic operation and maintenance (O&M) of transportation infrastructure, such as bridges, are crucial to support these goals. Today's bridge owners demand solutions that maximize reliability and availability, as well as minimize costs, environmental impacts, and the probability of loss of life and limb. To accommodate this, it is important to consider both experience from current O&M and the possibilities that come with new technologies. Common for both is that data and lean data management are in demand. Research and development of new technologies is a continuous process involving all stakeholders, including innovative bridge owners. This special session focus on applied new technologies, leanings from current asset management and future challenges and possibilities.

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SS 33 Sustainability in bridge design, operation and maintenance

Michael Havbro Faber Aalborg University, Denmark

Poul Linneberg COWI, Denmark

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Scope: In recent years, an increasing awareness of environmental impact and CO2-equivalents in particular have materialized within the bridge design, construction and Operation and Maintenance (O&M) market. Infrastructure owners demand triple bottom lines and tradeoff studies when choosing between alternatives. Furthermore, they want contracts that promote sustainable projects. A key component in this development is that infrastructure owners have started developing country specific and transparent CO2e calculators based on data from environmental product declarations etc.         

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SS 37 Nordic Operation and Maintenance Strategies for Bridges: Pioneering a Sustainable Future

Torben Bangsgaard Ramboll, Denmark

Dani Honfi Stockholm Municipality, Sweden

Bjørn Thomas Svendsen Ramboll, Norway

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Dive into the unique world of Nordic strategies for bridge operation and maintenance in this dedicated session at the IABMAS 2024 conference. The Nordic approach stands out for its proactive measures, fostering a culture of trust and open dialogue among stakeholders. With a keen focus on sustainability, it seeks to ensure the longevity and reliability of our bridge infrastructures. The session also highlights the holistic nature of these strategies, centered around the net present value of investments, ensuring long-term economic feasibility. This session promises a wealth of knowledge, beneficial for all attendees, as we collectively strive towards a sustainable, resilient, and economically sound future for global bridge infrastructure.

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SS 39 Digital Enabled Asset Management of Major Bridges

Tobias Friis Ramboll, Denmark

Ivan Gualtero TYLin

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The title “Digital Enabled Asset Management of Major Bridges” is pleasing both from the bridge owners, consultants and academic perspective. By leveraging digital technologies, asset managers can gain real-time insights into asset health, anticipate and prevent failures, and optimize maintenance schedules, leading to reduced downtime, increased asset longevity, and lower overall costs. However, the implementation of the process of using digital technologies to optimize the management of physical assets throughout their lifecycle, from design and procurement through to operation, maintenance, and decommissioning is not always straight-forward. The scope of this special session is to increase knowledge about the practical aspects of ensuring a successfully implementation of “Digital Enabled Asset Management of a Major Bridge” by bringing together bridge operators, consultants, maintenance teams, monitoring experts and academia.

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SS 41 Management and maintenance of urban bridges

Dani Honfi TBS Timber Bridge Specialists, Sweden

László Dunai Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary

Jan Vig Ramboll, Denmark

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Urban bridges serve as more than mere infrastructural elements, they are integral to city life, fostering connectivity, urban development, enhancing public spaces, and contributing to the community's identity. However, managing and maintaining these vital structures pose unique challenges, owing to factors like aging materials, dated technical solutions, infrastructure interdependencies, spatial constraints in cities, parallel development projects, and organizational and budgetary constraints. The added complexity of blurred ownership and responsibility boundaries and often missing documentation further complicates this process.
Moreover, in the light of sustainability and creating more liveable cities, urban bridges hold significant cultural, symbolic and technical demonstration value that must be preserved. These considerations should form an integral part of any maintenance planning process for urban bridges.
Our proposed special session invites insights on urban bridge assessment, refurbishment and rehabilitation projects, and discussions on overall management of urban bridges. We aim to foster an environment of shared learning for bridge managers, technical specialists, and consultants actively engaged in urban bridge-related roles. Together, we can work towards more sustainable, resilient and liveable cities, using our urban bridges as focal points for development and connection.

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SS 42 Community Resilience and Decision-Support systems

Nisrine Makhoul École Spéciale des Travaux Publics, du Bâtiment et de l’Industrie, France

Rolands Kromanis University of Twente, Netherlands

John van de Lindt Colorado State University, USA

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Andre R. Barbosa Oregon State University, USA

Franziska Schmidt Gustave Eiffel University, France

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Resilient engineering systems (e.g., critical infrastructures such as bridges) and communities aim to: 1) plan and prepare for disruptive events and chronic stressors, 2) absorb shocks and stresses resulting from such events, 3) recover from the events, and 4) adapt to threats and learn lessons for future improvements.
Resilience quantification assess the performance of systems and communities following disruptive events (i.e., earthquakes, tsunamis, flooding and hurricanes) and chronic stressors (i.e., climate change, shift of demands, and aging of systems etc.). It also ensures timely recovery of systems and communities. Resilience quantification is done at all levels (e.g., component, structural, network, infrastructure, system, and city). It considers interdependencies between the levels under multiple scenarios. Community resilience extends such analyses to capture socio-economic effects on resilience processes to improve the decision-making through realistic representations.
This session investigates engineering concepts, modeling, and tools for Community Resilience and associated Decision-Support systems. The session welcomes, but is not limited to, studies on (i) system and community resilience to climate change (including, disruptive events and adaptation), (ii) applications of emerging technologies for resilience quantification/assessment, (iii) and digitalization, sensing and smart solutions for supporting engineering resilience. The session covers physics-based and data-driven approaches enhanced with machine learning and artificial intelligence.

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SS 43 Responding to Structural Emergencies: Post-Event inspection to restoring the Structure to full service

Sreenivas Alampalli Stantec, USA

Mohammed Maqbool Popli Design Group, USA

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Transportation structures – bridges, culverts, tunnels, etc. - are subjected to emergencies due to events such as flooding, vehicular collisions, barge/ship impacts, and fires. Bridge owners and consulting community must respond to these emergency situations in an expedited fashion to avoid immediate closure of the structure; perform quick inspection and evaluation to make decisions such as partial closure of the structure, full closure of the structure, etc.; maintain mobility through detours; make arrangements for quick restoration of service including emergency/temporary repairs to replacement of the structure as soon as possible; document lessons learned; and review/modify policies and procedures based on lessons learned. This requires preparing for these events well ahead by establishing policies and procedures, effective communication channels with all stakeholders, and mobilization of diversified resources as needed. This session will focus on case studies related to responses associated with such emergency events and lessons learned for improving the emergency responses in the future.

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SS 44 AI and Optimization Methods for Bridge Management under Uncertainty

David Y. Yang Portland State University, USA

Charalampos Andriotis Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands

Konstantinos G. Papakonstantinou Pennsylvania State University, USA

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Transportation agencies worldwide are tasked with the maintenance, improvement, and risk mitigation
of large-scale bridge systems. Challenges to fulfil this mandate arise from the sheer number of assets,
extremely long decision horizons, amalgamation of competing objectives, and significant uncertainties,
among others. Advances in various fields of Artificial Intelligence (AI) present opportunities to overcome
these challenges and modernize bridge management practices. This special session focuses on the
innovations and developments in AI and optimization methods to enable large-scale management of
individual bridges and bridge networks under uncertainty, including (but not limited to):
• Information modeling for bridge deterioration and life-cycle analyses
• Novel application of AI in bridge inspection, monitoring, and management
• AI-assisted uncertainty quantification and infrastructure decision-making
• Risk-based life-cycle planning enabled by modern AI and optimization methods
• Objective multi-hazard risk assessment in bridge management systems
• Pre- and post-disaster resilience with AI and related techniques

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SS 46 BRIDGITISE an EU network on the digitalization of bridge integrity management

Maria Pina Limongelli Politecnico di Milano, Italy

Joan Hee Roldsgaard Rambøll, Denmark

Javier Jordan Pedelta, Spain

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Michael Havbro Faber Aalborg University, Denmark

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The recently funded EU project BRIDGITISE focuses on the digitalization of bridge management through the development of innovative approaches to information management. The project will develop and validate innovative technologies for the effective management of bridge information to support decisions relevant to bridge integrity management across the lifecycle. The project consortium combines the expertise of universities, research centers, industrial companies, industrial companies, bridge design and assessment companies, and end-users who form the project consortium

This Special Session will provide a venue for exchange of information on the ongoing project developments presenting ongoing studies carried out by the project partners on the project topics, namely:

- Innovative low-cost, large scale and automatic technologies, to collect bridge information
- Artificial Intelligence and IoT technologies specifically tailored to bridges to process and share information
- Digital decision support tools able to manage bridges across their lifecycle

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SS 47 Life-Cycle of RC/PC Bridges: Advances on Experimental Testing and Computational Methods from the BRIDGE|50 Research Project

Fabio Biondini Politecnico di Milano, Italy

Francesco Tondolo Politecnico di Torino, Italy

Sergio Manto SCR Piemonte, Italy

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Carlo Beltrami Lombardi Engineering, Italy

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BRIDGE|50 is a research project established jointly by Politecnico di Milano and Politecnico di Torino with public authorities and private companies for a wide campaign of experimental tests and numerical investigations on a prestressed concrete viaduct dismantled after a 50-year lifetime. A group of 29 deck beams, including 25 I-beams and 4 box beams, and 2 pier caps have been moved and stored in a testing site. The on-site experimental activities include non-destructive diagnostic tests, full-scale load tests up to collapse, and samples collected for laboratory tests. The objective is gathering new data concerning the life-cycle safety and reliability of aging bridges. This framework of data and will provide knowledge advances for public authorities managing bridges and infrastructure networks and represent key information to validate life-cycle computational methods for design and assessment of reinforced and prestressed concrete structures. The proposed Special Session is aimed at presenting recent advances and achievements of the project, including the experimental results of the full scale load tests, and fostering future research activities and implementation in practice of life-cycle design, assessment, maintenance, and management of structures and infrastructure systems (www.bridge50.org).