Challenges in the application of digital transformation to inspection and maintenance of bridges

Abstract

Bridges constitute an important part of the infrastructure and are subjected to damage and deterioration of materials and support conditions, as well as exposure to adverse environmental conditions. Continuous or repeated monitoring of structural responses may add important information for decision-making regarding their maintenance, repair and reinforcement. The use of these data, in conjunction with techniques of structural reliability for the treatment of the uncertainties, allows a better understanding of the structural behaviour and integrity. Modern Information and Communication Technologies can greatly contribute to the improvement of the maintenance capacity and, consequently, to the reliability of the assets and to their operational availability. New wireless communication technologies, such as 5 G networks, are considered as the enabling technologies of the digital transformation, integrated with the concept of the Internet of Things. High connectivity capacity and intensive automation enable, for example, changes in inspection paradigms and asset maintenance, by transferring the product focus to service platforms, bringing gains to productivity, comfort, operational safety and costs. New predictive maintenance approaches, which make use of a large amount of data available, can improve the efficiency of maintenance processes, producing more accurate and reliable anticipated diagnostics. The Digital Twins incorporate all these tools and allow a real-time view of the evolution of the asset behaviour. This concept applied to a railway bridge is presented and discussed in detail in this paper.