Structural assessment using identified bending stiffness

All Engineering structures are subjected to time dependent degradation processes. In order to allow a cost effective maintenance planning, it is necessary first to determine a structure’s condition and reliability profile respectively and second to extrapolate the acquired assessment indices into the future. Based on this information maintenance planning then can be optimized. This contribution will deal with a practically feasible approach to the assessment of existing structures based on different methods for the determination of the ‘real’ bending stiffness distribution