Evaluation of repair and maintenance strategies for concrete coastal bridges on a probabilistic basis

Corrosion of reinforcement is a major problem for a large number of reinfor ced concrete structures because it can lead to a substantial decrease in th e load-bearing capacity. One mode of corrosion initiation is when the chlor ide content around the reinforcement exceeds a critical threshold value. In this paper, the concept of probabilistic models is presented. Further, it is demonstrated how optimal plans for repair and maintenance of concrete st ructures subject to chloride ingress can be determined on the basis of a pr obabilistic model. In an illustrative example, the optimal repair and maint enance strategy for a bridge pier in a marine environment is determined.