Abstract

ABSTRACT

Framework for Integrating Bridge Inspection Data with Bridge Information Model

Danial Ghadiri Moghaddam

The collapse of Silver Bridge, Virginia, U.S. in 1967 was a shock to the public awareness about the danger of deteriorating infrastructures which alerted about the necessity of better inspection programs. In practice, inspection data are being often collected on paper as textual data and this inspection process has various consequences including difficulties in data sharing, errors in communication among various stakeholders involved in the project and information losses. Recently, bridge data sharing and integration became of a significant importance due to the fragmented nature of bridge Operation and Maintenance (O&M) activities. A framework is proposed in this research to extend the usability of Bridge Information Modeling (BrIM) into the O&M phase. The framework proposes the improvement of bridge O&M processes with a focus on bridge inspection by improving the processes of documentation, data storage and information visualization. Inspection observations are added to the BrIM by direct interaction of the inspector with the model at the inspection site. Moreover, by adding the time dimension to the BrIM, the 4D visualization of modeled defects enables defect propagation monitoring. The proposed method extends the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) standard as a communication language among the stakeholders involved in the lifecycle management of a bridge. Various defect-related definitions and properties are identified and added to the IFC. A case study is implemented and tested in order to evaluate the proposed method and explore its technical feasibility.