Proposal of representative portfolios for federal roadway bridges in Northeastern Brazil

TL;DR

This paper statistically characterizes federal highway bridges in Northeastern Brazil, creating a representative portfolio of bridge classes to aid regional hazard assessment and infrastructure management.

Contribution

It introduces a statistically based bridge portfolio with four representative classes, aiding regional infrastructure evaluation and hazard impact studies.

Findings

Four bridge classes identified: two single-span, two multi-span.

Statistical distributions model bridge variability.

Strong correlations found among certain parameters.

Abstract

This paper presents a statistical analysis of federal highway bridges commonly found in Northeastern Brazil to develop a portfolio, or statistically representative characterization of bridges across the region. A detailed study of bridges under the supervision of the National Department of Infrastructure and Transportation is conducted and four representative bridge classes are defined: two of them consist of single-span bridges and the others are multi-span continuous bridges with non-integral or no abutments and different bridge decks. Discrete and continuous distributions describe random variables to consider their variability in the analyses. However, some parameters are defined as function of the random variables, since a strong correlation is observed. Future bridge assessment studies should use the geometries of this bridge portfolio to evaluate the regional impacts due to natural hazards, or furnish models for updating, among other applications.