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Abstract

The principal objective of this paper is employed the least squares technique associated with comparison matrix method to determine the repair ranking of existing reinforced concrete (RC) bridges with bestridden or non-bestridden river. Six existing RC bridges in Taiwan are given as an illustrative example. For verifying the feasibility and reliability of the proposed method, the D (Degree) E (Extent) R (Relevancy) evaluation method, which is only considered the RC bridges built on river bed and is now widely used to evaluate the damage grade for existing RC bridges in Taiwan, is also adopted to assessing the same six existing RC bridges. The predicted results obtained from both the proposed and DER evaluation methods have the same repair ranking. The present study provides the weight for each item of RC bridge with bestridden and non-bestridden rivers in the DER evaluation method, respectively. The results in this study could be used as engineering decision-making for the repair, strengthening or demolition rankings for existing RC bridges.

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