BRIDGE TESTING AND MANAGEMENT DURING THEIR CONSTRUCTION AND SERVICEABLE YEARS

An extraordinarily large number of bridges has been built in Spain in recent years, many of which have been characterized as singular or special structures because they have required specific control and monitoring systems both during construction, the acceptance test phase and part of their operational life. The gradual introduction of quality control systems in construction companies and the fact that the Administration is requiring and promoting construction processes with increasingly tried and tested measures to control quality and guarantee the safety of the final product have led to a proliferation of systems which, with more advanced instrumentation and methodologies monitor control the structural behavior of the bridges. The paper presents concrete examples of the present situation in Spain with regard to bridge control and sounding.