Risk assessment and management for bridges

Abstract

Risk assessment and management has gained more and more popularity in bridge engineering due to its direction on preventing or alleviating unfavorable situations during the life cycle of bridges. In the current applications, risk management is recognized as an extension of risk assessment to provide management strategies. In fact, risk management is essential to the improvement of decision efficiency and validity since it is the direct procedure connecting risk assessment and on-site users. To enhance the influence of risk management, management oriented risk assessment is proposed. Introductions to the basic conceptions of risk assessment and management are presented. Detailed instructions on the proposed approach are provided with consideration to different management requirements and stages. Four applications of the management oriented assessment are introduced in detail on how the approach is realized in practical situations.