Messina Bridge - Reliability Based Inspection and Reliability Centred Maintenance - The Challenge

Stretto di Messina has with foresight prescribed that the methodology of Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM) should be applied when defining the Operation and Maintenance (O&M) regime for the Messina Strait Bridge. The designers took on this challenge and found it necessary to combine the methodology of Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM) and Reliability Based Inspection (RBI). The common purpose of RBI and RCM is to ensure that bridge maintenance and inspection are carried out in a systematic and consistent manner that will ensure bridge availability and meet levels of reliability that are defined by the client or other serviceability limits. RBI addresses elements and systems of the bridge with predictable failure pattern, where the degradation rate can effectively be measured before actual failure. RCM addresses elements and systems with a predictable failure pattern, where degradation cannot effectively be measured before failure.