" TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 534: Guidelines for Inspection and Strength Evaluation of Suspension Bridge Parallel Wire Cables offers recommendations for the inspection and strength evaluation of suspension bridge parallel-wire cables. A companion CD-ROM provides details of the research program undertaken to develop the guidelines and explanations of the guidelines' recommendations. " -- publisher's description

The motivation for the development of the "Primer for the Inspection and Strength Evaluation of Suspension Bridge Cables" is to provide a practical supplement to the NCHRP Report 534, "Guidelines for Inspection and Strength Evaluation of Suspension Bridge Parallel Wire Cables," and the FHWA "Recording and Coding Guide for the Structure Inventory and Appraisal of the Nation's Bridges." This Primer serves as an initial resource for planning and performing inspection, metallurgical testing, and strength evaluation of suspension bridge cables. This Primer also provides an example of a simplified strength evaluation, flowcharts illustrating the inspection and strength evaluation procedures, and inspection and strength evaluation forms that can be used, or replicated, by inspectors and engineers.

This Primer serves as an initial resource for planning and performing inspection, metallurgical testing, and strength evaluation of suspension bridge cables. Also provides an example of a simplified strength evaluation, flowcharts illustrating the inspection and strength evaluation procedures, and inspection and strength evaluation forms that can be used, or replicated, by bridge inspectors and engineers. FHWA Publication No. FHWA-IF-11-045.

Most suspension bridges in use today have cables composed of thousands of steel wires and most of these bridges are aging and carry high volumes of traffic. Deterioration of the elements of the suspension system is a problem, replacement of these elements can be expensive and problematic, while failure could be catastrophic. The TRB National Cooperative Highway Research Program's NCHRP Web-Only Document 353: Risk-Based Inspection and Strength Evaluation of Suspension Bridge Main Cable Systems helps develop guidelines for inspection and evaluation of suspension bridge main cable systems using probabilistic approaches.

Guidance on Protecting and Extending the Life of Suspension BridgesSuspension bridges are graceful, aesthetic, and iconic structures. Due to their attractiveness and visibility, they are well-known symbols of major cities and countries in the world. They are also an essential form of transportation infrastructure built across large bodies of water.

Maintaining bridges in good condition has extended service life and proven to be more cost effective than allowing degradation to advance, necessitating costlier bridge rehabilitation or replacement projects. Preventive maintenance is therefore an important tool to retard deterioration and sustain the safe operation of bridges. This includes a continuous effort of periodic inspections, condition evaluations and prioritizing repairs accordingly. The above measures define the framework for asset management of bridges. On August 21-22, 2017, bridge engineering experts from around the world convened at the 9th New York City Bridge Conference to discuss issues of construction, design, inspection, monitoring, preservation and rehabilitation of bridge structures. This volume documents their contributions to the safe operation of bridge assets.