Bridge testing, monitoring and condition assessment in Finland

The paper gives an overview of Finnish bridges, their conditions and methods to estimate the condition using loading tests and monitoring. The measured data from bridge loading tests and afterward from monitored data have been transferred to laboratory for detail analyzing. The analysis also includes Finite Element model about the bridge, which have been used to simulate the loading tests and also to calculate possible failure modes for the bridge. By analyzing methods heavy vehicles crossing the bridge are possible to find out and calculate the speeds and weights and also define the life age of welded connections. The bridge loading tests are introduced as a part of whole bridge management system and also part of whole infra management syste