White Paper Building Preservation
With this white paper, we would like to give chief administrative officers and other responsible persons in municipalities an overview of the topic of bridge maintenance and preservation.
Even though media coverage usually focuses on spectacular cases on federal highways, half of all bridge structures are located in cities, counties and municipalities. And here, too, the pressure to act is growing.
Here you will find a compact overview of a topic that many still underestimate.
Contents of the white paper
- Infrastructure needs good care
- Germany's bridges: The facts
- What local authorities say about their structures
- The condition of engineering structures and bridges
- Resources for structural maintenance
- Implementation of structural preservation
- Contemporary solutions for bridge preservation
- Manage risks, control costs
Our promise
Partners along the building life cycle
Our systematic maintenance management enables the planned useful life of a structure to be fully exploited or even extended by identifying and avoiding serious damage at an early stage. We are assisted in this by precise and regular condition monitoring that goes beyond the norm, as well as efficient planning of remediation measures.
Through close cooperation with universities and startups as well as an internal innovation hub, we always have our finger on the pulse and can integrate new innovations into our business without major hurdles. This allows us to react quickly and efficiently to problems and counteract rapid deterioration at an early stage. This saves time and costs while reducing the impact on the environment.
Our services at a glance
Status survey
During a comprehensive review of the actual condition, we document and catalog structural data and damage. The condition survey includes various checks, based on RI-ERH-ING as well as DIN 1076: visual inspection, simple and main inspections, object-related damage analyses (OSA), measurements, inspections of steel and concrete components and foundations as well as the inspection of electrical and mechanical systems.
Develop understanding
We then evaluate the results of the condition survey and obtain a holistic picture of the condition of the structure. For this purpose, a digital image of the bridge can be created and damage can be located on it. The image and all other information relevant to the structure are transparently stored on a digital platform that our customers can access at any time. In order to be able to identify critical areas, factors such as age, environmental influences, traffic load and the maintenance and repair history of the engineering structure are taken into account.
Concept development
Together with you, we develop goals and priorities with regard to safety, availability and economic efficiency of the structure. The structure-specific maintenance concept can also include surrounding culverts, retaining walls and other trades. Our experts consider not only maintenance history and environmental factors in the concept, but also goals regarding economic efficiency and sustainability. This holistic approach enables us to provide a well-founded forecast of measures that takes into account the defined goals, legal requirements and budget.
Monitoring
Continuous monitoring of structures offers several advantages: Extending the life of the bridge, increasing safety, saving costs, and increasing the availability of the structure. Monitoring is not appropriate for every structure. Whether and, if so, which types of monitoring are used depends on the specific requirements, goals and conditions of your structures. Some methods for monitoring can be found under Innovative Technologies.
Building preservation
Our maintenance concept, which is specially tailored to your structure, ensures that it retains its value and long-term usability. We take over the structure for a fixed period of time and take care of the planning and implementation of necessary measures to ensure good condition. Meanwhile, we bear its risk and hand over the structure in the agreed condition at the end of the contract. Our approach minimizes maintenance costs and increases safety for users and the environment by taking into account the specific needs and requirements of the structure and being able to respond to and repair damage immediately.
You can receive these services in two ways: Either as a consulting service, in which we support you in the analysis, planning and implementation, or as an all-round carefree package; you show us the structure, we take care of the rest. Over a previously defined period of time, we take over all the necessary activities and ensure that the structure is maintained according to the current state of the art.
Drones
Drones enable efficient inspection without interruptions to ongoing operations and easier access to hard-to-see areas. Drones can take pictures and videos, detect cracks and damage independently using laser scanners, and form the basis for a digital twin with the help of a 360° scan. They increase the safety for our inspection engineers on site and enable faster and more precise recording of damaged areas.
#Precise monitoring #Increased safety #Time saving
Sensors
Sensors enable continuous measurement and evaluation of external influencing factors such as settlement, temperature and traffic load. From this, our experts can better assess the risks to the traffic and stability of the structure. The real-time application of sensors enables rapid action in the event of limit value violations. Safety risks are detected at an early stage and can be eliminated by replacing critical components.
#Precise monitoring #Increased safety #Time savings #Cost savings.
Predictive Maintenance
Through continuous monitoring and careful data analysis, we are able to anticipate the deterioration of a structure's condition at an early stage. Our main objective is to ensure maximum availability of the structure over its entire service life and to reduce operating costs. We achieve this through targeted planning of maintenance work. The application of predictive maintenance makes it possible to avoid unnecessary interventions, extend the service life and helps to increase sustainability.
#Increased safety #Cost savings #Time savings
