A new strategy for the information management of bridge maintenance

A considerable progress in development of information management system for bridge maintenance and management has been made for support of efficient structural maintenance. However, most information management systems for bridges have weakness to keep the consistency of structural information for the lifecycle support of bridges under the heterogeneous computing environment. In addition, it is also difficult to represent the structural details based on three-dimensional geometry information for the better comprehension of end-users. This study provides a new strategy, which can guarantee the consistency of structural information, for the prompt and accurate information service to support quick assessment of structural safety and usability of bridges. The two core techniques are emphasized on this study. One is for application of geometry-based bridge database, and the other is for integration of document information. The former enables structural engineers and public officials to handle the structural details with three-dimensional geometric shapes for the engineering judgment and decision-making in maintenance of bridges. The latter employs XML technologies to develop the application modules that assist end-users to operate the documents such as structural calculation sheet, design report and inspection reports for any specific bridges on the web. The framework of the information management system is presented for the integration of heterogeneous computing environments among the different national departments or public corporations. The pilot system is developed and its applications to existing bridges on the Han-river in Seoul of Korea are demonstrated.