Evaluation and Rehabilitation of Bridge and Building Infrastructure: Mechanics, Reliability and Design

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The calling of the next generation of Canadian structural engineers will be to evaluate, manage, and rehabilitate Canada's huge inventory of deteriorating bridge and building infrastructure. For example, the current value of eliminating all bridge deficiencies as they arise over the next 50 years is in the order of $85 Billion. The proposed research program will educate Highly Qualified Personnel to address this challenge through an intensive research program, involving numerical analysis and large-scale specimen testing, to enhance design code criteria for the evaluation and rehabilitation of highway bridges and buildings. The overarching theme is to develop rational evaluation and rehabilitation design practices, based on a firm foundation of structural mechanics and reliability principles, that can be readily transferred to practicing engineers. The principal short-term objectives are to: (1) develop, and validate by physical test, analytical tools and engineering procedures for steel and concrete highway bridge rehabilitation; (2) investigate the true resilience of bridges that are nominally single-load-path structures; and, (3) conduct research necessary to support further development of Canadian and American Concrete Institute standards for existing building evaluation. The long-term objective, spawned by the Applicant's previous bridge-related research and industrial experience, is to provide the knowledge that will allow engineers to make rational maintenance, repair and replacement decisions and so ensure the safety and sustainability of Canadian bridge and building infrastructure. The proposed research program will support 7 MESc and 4 PhD students over its 5-year term: 87.9% of the requested funding is for student stipends and an additional 5.4% is to support student participation at technical conferences.