Development of a Damage Assessment Method for the Efficient Maintenance of Aging Small- to Medium-Sized Reinforced Concrete Slab Bridge Decks

Bridges are a crucial component of social infrastructure, playing a vital role in transportation, logistics and transit. Several bridges in South Korea were constructed during the rapid development period of the 1990s and 2000s, with RC slab bridges making up a significant portion of these structures. Over time, many of these bridges have aged considerably. To address this, the “Special Act on the Safety Control and Maintenance of Establishments” was enacted in South Korea to improve bridge maintenance. However, maintenance for aging small- to medium-sized bridges, except for Type 1 bridges, remains inadequate due to budget and personnel shortages. In this study, we developed a damage assessment method to evaluate the deterioration and analyze the current state of small- to medium-sized RC slab bridges. We derived the correlation between the deflection response ratio and the stiffness reduction rate of a bridge through structural analysis. This correlation data were then used to assess the damage to actual in-service bridges. Finally, we analyzed the current state of the target bridge and validated the damage assessment method.