Life-Cycle Cost Analysis of Reinforced Concrete Bridge Decks with Conventional and Corrosion Resistant Reinforcement

Abstract

Reinforced concrete (RC) bridge decks suffer from corrosion-induced damage due to aggressive environmental conditions or de-icing chemicals. Significant expenditures are typically required to conduct routine maintenance and repairs of affected RC bridges. Compared to conventional steel reinforcement (i.e. black rebar), corrosion resistant reinforcement is initially more expensive but provides longer service life. In this paper, corrosion-induced cracking time, traffic delays associated with bridge deck maintenance, and the environmental impact associated with these activities are integrated into a probabilistic framework to investigate the life-cycle cost of RC bridge decks with conventional and corrosion resistant reinforcement. Monte Carlo simulation is implemented to quantify the probabilistic life-cycle cost of the bridge deck. Preliminary results obtained from this project show that corrosion resistant reinforcement has lower life-cycle cost compared to conventional reinforcement. The indirect cost associated with traffic delays accounts for over 50% of the total life-cycle cost for the investigated case study.