A risk-based approach to corrosion protection and maintenance of steel bridges

A computer-based decision making tool used to minimize the cost of coating maintenance for steel bridges is presented. Variations of the model, adapted for specific usage, are presented. A maintenance approach with the lowest equivalent uniform annual cost is recommended for each analysis using the model. The analysis may be performed for a single bridge structure using deterministic or probabilistic input values, or for many bridge structures of a certain inventory using deterministic input values. Using the model to analyze the entire bridge inventory provides an estimation of the annual budgetary requirements for the coating maintenance in a region and will facilitate the prioritization of these coating maintenance projects. The paper focuses on state-of-theart practices in corrosion protection coating maintenance in the Province of British Columbia, Canada.