Codified Risk-Based Inspection Planning

Simplified methods are described for reliability- and risk-based inspection planning of steel structures. The methods simplify the practical aspects of identifying inspection plans complying both with specific requirements to the maximum acceptable annual probability of structural collapse and member failure and at the same time minimizing overall total service life costs. Generic inspections plans can then be established for representative fatigue sensitive details in terms of characteristics such as FDF (Fatigue Design Factor), detail type, RSR (Reserve Strength Ratio) given fatigue failure and inspection/repair techniques. Generic inspection plans can be used for design of new structures as well as for requalification of existing structures. In this paper it is described how generic inspection plans can be used for codification purposes in connection with inspection planning of steel structures.