Uncertainties in bridge inspection and monitoring and their structural relevance

Mission Statement/Objectives

Inspection and monitoring are important for ensuring safety of bridges. However, measured values are subject to different types of uncertainty, which may arise from sensor deployment, data interpretation, environment, the spatial variability of material properties. These uncertainties may influence the structural safety assessment.

We need to identify the uncertainties in bridge inspection and monitoring, and link uncertainty-aware monitoring with structural safety. The objectives are:

• Identify the sources of uncertainties in both the NDT techniques and the procedures of inspection and monitoring in practice.
• QuanAnalysee uncertainties based on data and expert experiences from real bridges inspection and monitoring.
• Analyse the effect of these uncertainties from bridge inspection and monitoring on current structural safety assessment.

Scope & Limitation

1. This TG cares uncertainties arising from not only techniques themselves but also the data analysis, practical procedure of inspection and monitoring. This TG will provide a list of sources of uncmodellings and demonstrate only those relevant for case studies.
2. This TG will focus on bridge infrastructures mainly built with concrete and steel.
3. This TG will not focus on specific inspection or monitoring techniques but will demonstrate only those applied in case studies. 
4. This TG will not carry out new field tests but collect existing data of inspection and monitoring from different countries and continents.
5. This TG will not focus on structural modelling or its uncertainties. 

Expected Project Output

Output 1: Two papers

• 1.1 SEJ paper on ‘Survey on uncertainties in bridge inspection and monitoring’, corresponding to Output 3-Part I.
• 1.2 Journal article on ‘Evaluating bridge inspection and monitoring uncertainties and their structural relevance’, corresponding to Output 3-Part II&III.

Output 2: A special session in IABSE conference on the results

Output 3: Structural Engineering Document (SED): Uncertainty-aware bridge inspection and monitoring practice (Part I: identification of uncertainties in current bridge inspection and monitoring practice in difference countries, Part II: quantification of uncertainties using practical data, Part III: evaluation of influence of these uncertainties on structural safety assessment)

Start Date: September 2026
Target Date of Completion: September 2030

Chair
Fengqiao Zhang, Netherlands

Vice Chair
Max Fiedler, Germany

Members

Xudong Jian, Switzerland

Eline Vereecken, Belgium

Helder Sousa, Portugal

Eva Lantsoght, Ecuador

Mitsuyoshi Akiyama, Japan