Análise comparativa de metodologias de inspeção de obras de arte especiais: um estudo de caso

Abstract

Inspecting bridges and viaducts plays a fundamental role in identifying, assessing conservation status, and planning maintenance actions. The objective of this study is to compare five methodologies for the inspection of bridges and viaducts based on guidelines provided by different sources: i) DNIT (2004), ii) NBR 9452 (2019), iii) GDE/UnB (2011), iv) Manual for Bridge Element Inspection (MBEI) by AASHTO (2019), and v) GUT Matrix. A visual inspection was conducted on a reinforced concrete bridge located in the city of Guarapuava, PR. The findings during the inspection were documented through photographs, which were used to apply each methodology and obtain the results. The applied methods were evaluated based on the following criteria: methodology application time, difficulty level, reliability level, considered data, and level of detail. The results indicated that GDE/UnB and AASHTO approaches demonstrated satisfactory performance regarding the abovementioned criteria. The GDE/UnB approach considers factors such as weighting factor (Fp), damage intensity factor (Fi), damage degree (D), element deterioration degree (Gde), a family of elements deterioration degree (Gdf), and structural relevance factor (Fr) to calculate the overall damage grade (Gd) of the structure. Conversely, the AASHTO approach defines and classifies existing elements for each type of material of bridges and viaducts, describing the defects that can occur for each of them through images and tables and providing images to assist in defining the quantities of existing defects. Considering these aspects, it was concluded that the methodologies adopted by DNIT and NBR 9452 (2019) in conducting the inspection exhibit a significant level of subjectivity, which can lead to considerable variations in results obtained by different inspectors.