Computerized Database for Maintenance and Management

of Highway Bridges in Vietnam

Dinh Tuan Hai1

Abstract: The deterioration of physical and serviceable conditions of highway bridges in Vietnam increasingly have become major social
and technical concerns. Moreover, the maintenance management system applied currently is considered outdated and not satisfying the
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actual traffic and social demands imposed on highway bridges. This paper is an attempt to develop an advanced maintenance management
system 共V-BMS兲 concurrently with a computerized database for highway bridges in Vietnam. The current status of existing bridges is first
reviewed in terms of the physical condition and the maintenance management practice in order to identify outstanding problems. Several
advanced techniques have been, therefore, introduced into the V-BMS to manage and maintain highway bridges in the most suitable
manner. Furthermore, practical application in a direct-maintenance agency is presented as an example to demonstrate the validity of the
database. In order to be successful, the paper recommends fully testing the system on various actual conditions of Vietnam, so necessary
modification can be made.
DOI: 10.1061/共ASCE兲1084-0702共2008兲13:3共245兲
CE Database subject headings: Bridges, highway; Databases; Maintenance; Vietnam.

Introduction
In Vietnam, highway bridges have been constructed through the
National Highway Network. The network was initiated in 1912
through construction of 2,000 km of Highway No. 1 共TMoVN
2004兲. Existing bridges, together with the highway system, were
therefore contributing enormously to the development of Viet-
nam. However, many bridges show significant deterioration and
fail to accommodate recent traffic and social demands. It is be-
cause they are under the impact of many external factors, such as
the increasing traffic volume, the aggressive environmental stres-
sors, maintenance budget limitations, and natural change. On the
other hand, bridge maintenance management in Vietnam that has
evolved and changed throughout several historical periods differ-
entiating in ownership, philosophy, standard, etc., seems outdated
and not suitable for the current requirements 共Hai 2006兲. A new
system is, therefore, urgently needed now to enable local staff
handling physical problems of highway bridges and deciding op-
timal maintenance management activities.
The first objective of this paper is to identify outstanding prob-
lems experienced in existing bridges in Vietnam for aspects of
quality and functionality as well as maintenance management
practice. In the second objective, a new bridge maintenance man-
agement system, including a computerized database, is developed
and applied in Vietnam to eliminate these problems, or at least
partly minimize their adverse impacts. It is intended that the
bridge management system introduced by this research is useful
not only for maintaining and managing existing bridges in Viet-
nam, but for those in other developing countries.
Review of Previous Work on Bridge Management
System
Effective maintenance management systems and computerized
databases for bridges have been implemented for many countries
in the world. Chase and Gaspar 共2000兲 mentioned the use of the
Pontis and the BRIDGIT at U.S. Federal highway administration
to provide comprehensive supports for determining the optimum
expenditures required while maintaining a specified level of ser-
vice for population of bridges. Meanwhile, the J-BMS was
constructed for Yamaguchi-prefecture government in Japan to
evaluate bridge performance, to estimate degrees of deterioration
and remaining service life, and to generate maintenance strategies
in consideration of actual costs, budget availabilities, and effects
of maintenance 共Miyamoto et al. 2000兲. In Vietnam, even paper-
based maintenance management is currently used; several simple
bridge database systems are, however, suggested. One of them is
the BridgeMan developed by the British-Parkman consultant
under consideration, but it is limited in managing bridge-related
inventory data only 共Dac et al. 2004兲. The function for evaluation
and prediction of current and future physical condition and ser-
viceability as well as expenditure decision and optimal mainte-
nance of existing bridges are so far not yet available.

1
Faculty of Urban Management, Hanoi Architectural Univ., Km 10
Nguyen Trai Rd., Hanoi City, Vietnam. E-mail: dinhtuanhai@yahoo.com
Note. Discussion open until October 1, 2008. Separate discussions
must be submitted for individual papers. To extend the closing date by
one month, a written request must be filed with the ASCE Managing
Editor. The manuscript for this paper was submitted for review and pos-
sible publication on February 28, 2007; approved on October 8, 2007.
This paper is part of the Journal of Bridge Engineering, Vol. 13, No. 3,
May 1, 2008. ©ASCE, ISSN 1084-0702/2008/3-245–257/$25.00.
Research Methodology
The ultimate goal of this study is to develop a new bridge main-
tenance management system. It enables practically applying in
Vietnam either to eliminate outstanding problems or to minimize
their adverse impacts. The first step is to extensively review the
available literature of past and present bridge maintenance man-
agement systems in the world. The data collection 共e.g., personal

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J. Bridge Eng. 2008.13:245-257.

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Fig. 1. Classification of existing highway bridges in Vietnam
interviews, public media and publications, and visual inspections兲
in Vietnam are subsequently carried out to identify the current
situation of highway bridges in terms of the physical condition
and the maintenance management practice. Collected data are
then carefully analyzed. Problems that need eliminating, there-
fore, could be clearly identified. In the next step, several
computer-based problem-solving techniques are introduced as a
part of the new maintenance management system. They accelerate
the assessment process in an automatic manner. Furthermore, a
computerized database is constructed to have functions of man-
agement, maintenance, and assessment for existing bridges in
Vietnam. At the end, this paper demonstrates an example appli-
cation of the system on a specific local condition to test its valid-
ity and beneficial outcome.
Current Situation of Highway Bridges in Vietnam
Physical Condition of Highway Bridges in Vietnam
According to statistical data, existing highway bridges in Vietnam
consist of a total 4,107 bridges, running a total length of
150,374 m over the entire country 共TMoVN 2004兲. They are clas-
sified by the transport ministry of Vietnam in terms of lengths,
materials, construction time, deck widths, and load-carrying ca-
pacities. The statistical data shown in Fig. 1共a兲 confirm that high-
way bridges in Vietnam are mostly in the small and medium size
categories, accounting for 65.72% and 22.55% of the total, re-
spectively. Concrete is the most common material used in con-
struction, as reinforced concrete and prestress concrete bridges
encompass 59.99% and 20.92% of all bridges 关Fig. 1共b兲兴. Many
weak/very weak and narrow/very narrow bridges are still in ser-
vice, although they can definitely not satisfy the requirement of
modern vehicles 共trucks, trailers, buses, etc.兲 where there is de-
mand for 25 ton and 14 m width normally. Fig. 1共e兲 shows
28.59% and 18.36% bridges are in the 10 ton and 13 ton load-
carrying capacities, respectively. Meanwhile, 31.82% and 45.22%
of bridges have traffic lanes less than 6.5 m or from 6.5 to 10 m
width 关Fig. 1共d兲兴. Bridge ages are in the medium range of
246 / JOURNAL OF BRIDGE ENGINEERING © ASCE / MAY/JUNE 2008
J. Bridge Eng. 2008.13:245-257.
10 to 50 years with 52.97% bridges built in the period of 1975–
1995 and 33.19% bridges built between 1954 and 1975 关Fig.
1共c兲兴.
Existing bridges in Vietnam are generally in poor physical
condition and have insifficient serviceability. There are several
outstanding problems that are from not only the bridge structures
themselves, but also from other aspects of current traffic, the so-
ciety, highway routes, etc. According to Hai et al. 共2004兲, several
common types of failure modes, sorted in order of seriousness
and frequency, are: corrosion, fatigue damage, functional obsoles-
cence, aging, human invasion, construction defect, missing ele-
ment, scouring, settlement, and others. Moreover, Vietnamese
highway bridges have a wide range of shapes, commissioning
dates, and have been built by various different design standards
共Hai et al., 2007兲. Some have been subject to the impact of wars,
the adverse climate, and poor maintenance and management con-
ditions. Meanwhile, there are differences occurring from geo-
graphical locations due to scattering through mountains, deltas,
and coasts; the climate in the northern area has four seasons
共spring, summer, autumn, and winter兲 and the southern area only
has rainy and dry seasons 共TMoVN 2002兲. Moreover, a drastic
extreme increase in vehicles in terms of volumes and weights has
an adverse impact on the bridge condition. We can assume that
bridges built after 1995 in Vietnam can satisfy current traffic de-
mands, as increased safety factors have been used in design
stages. However, it seems that many bridges built before 1995 do
not satisfy the current transported loads, especially that which
were affected by wars.
Maintenance Management Practice for Highway
Bridges in Vietnam
Bridge Owner and Agencies
The owner and its agencies for existing highway bridges are or-
ganized in hierarchies as shown in Fig. 2. The government of
Vietnam is considered as a sole owner due to the function of
providing finances to initiate, operate, and maintain all bridges
throughout their entire lifespan 共NAoSRVN 2002兲. However, it
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Fig. 2. Structural organization of bridge owner and agencies in Vietnam
does not directly involve itself in detail activities, but empowers
the duty to its subsidiaries, which are distributed across the coun-
try with current highway networks. In particular, 50 management
and repair companies are designated as the forefront agencies to
manage and maintain highway bridges in Vietnam. They are pub-
lic companies dealing with only public works and are funded
annually from the government to compensate for their operational
costs.
Bridge Management
According to Hai 共2006兲, all highway bridges in Vietnam are
managed by 50 management and repair companies, whose duties
are: 共a兲 Management of bridge inventory data; 共b兲 inspection and
evaluation of bridge health conditions; and 共c兲 security of the
traffic safety and operation. Therefore, these companies are ex-
ecuting the bridge management by focusing on the following
three aspects:
1. Inventory management: All bridge-related data have been
handled by untrained staff, and not properly classified nor
compiled, since a computerized database system is not avail-
able in Vietnam.
2. Bridge site management: Existing bridges are frequently
damaged by unexpected aliens, such as people, animals, veg-
etation, etc., that have adverse impacts. Several important
ones are however guarded by in-house staff of the manage-
ment and repair companies.
3. Inspection: Bridges are inspected regularly and periodically.
Furthermore, they are under special evaluation every
3 – 5 years.
Bridge Maintenance
Site works are carried out to ensure the safety of road users and
smooth flow of traffic on highway bridges in Vietnam, and to
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J. Bridge Eng. 2008.13:245-257.
maintain their structures at reasonable quality against external
impacts such as overloads, the climate, and human invasions 共Hai
2006兲. In addition, the owner wishes to preserve structural safety
and traffic capacity as long as possible and reduce the total cost of
existing bridges by extending their lifespan. On the other hand,
the bridge preservation is not executed properly in the practice
field due to the lack of financial aid and attention to the proper
maintenance. According to the current regulation in Vietnam
共TMoVN 2002兲, site maintenance works are classified into three
categories as follows 共Fig. 3兲:
1. Regular maintenance: Carried out every month by in-house
personnel of the managing company under prefixed specifi-
cation. It will be continued with the predetermined schedule
and budget.
2. Periodical maintenance: Varies from 2 to 5 years and is the
maintenance companies’ responsibility. There are repeated
works whose time cycles, budgets, scopes, etc., differently
depend on specific conditions of bridges and their elements.
3. Special maintenance: Uniquely depends on specific condi-
tions and must be carried out if bridges are neither physically
safe nor functionally serving traffic. They are outsourced to
contractors and supervised by the project management units
共Fig. 4兲.
Outstanding Problems of Highway Bridges in Vietnam
The overview of the physical condition and the maintenance man-
agement practice unveils several outstanding problems currently
occurring on highway bridges in Vietnam. They are summarized
in terms of physical and management aspects and described
below.
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Fig. 3. Categories of site maintenance for highway bridges in Vietnam
Physical Problems
1. Highway bridges are generally in poor physical and service-
able conditions with many local defects such as corrosion,
fatigue damage, functional obsolescence, aging, human inva-
sion, construction defect, missing element, scouring, and
settlement.
2. There are many unsynchronized bridges closely located
along the same route tracks whose load-carrying capacity
and deck width are very much different. Moreover, bridges
and roads are not homogeneous, as there are many bridges
classified in weak and narrow categories, while highway
roads are considerably strong and wide.
Management Problems
3. The provided annual budget is enough to execute only 30–
50% of the actual demands. Thus, the site maintenance is
conducted only on a limited numbers of the bridges.
4. There is a long distance with many hierarchies from bridge
owner 共the government of Vietnam兲 and direct maintenance
agencies 共50 companies兲. This creates problems of bureau-
cracy, communication slowdown, cost acceleration, and so
on.
5. A good management system with a computerized database is
considered as the most important factor for the effective
maintenance of the bridges, but it has not been applied yet.
This leads to several subsequent problems:
a. Inventory data is not properly managed, but is in an
Fig. 4. Procedure of special maintenance for highway bridges in Vietnam
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J. Bridge Eng. 2008.13:245-257.
intuitive and manual manner. It is therefore frequently miss-
ing and disorderly sorting to cause difficulties for users.
b. There is no systematic method to evaluate current
bridge physical and serviceable conditions as well as their
future trends.
c. Site maintenance works are currently executed in equal
consideration and random selection. Priority maintenance
criterion that can assess current demands and allocate the
budget to the most necessary works has not yet been applied.
Outline of the Bridge Management System
General
As outstanding problems have been identified, they must be soon
eliminated in order to minimize their adverse impacts on bridge
structures and traffic users. The research therefore constructs an
intelligent computerized database named Bridge Management
System of Vietnam 共V-BMS兲. Functions of this system are to: 共a兲
Manage bridge-related data; 共b兲 assess physical condition and
functionality of existing bridges; and 共c兲 decide optimal mainte-
nance management. If the V-BMS is properly applied, problems 4
and 5 can be totally eliminated from existing bridges in Vietnam.
On the other hand, problems 1, 2, and 3 are the sole responsibility
of the government of Vietnam, who enables adjusting macropoli-
cies for their total elimination. However, if being applied, the
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Fig. 5. Organizational structure of the V-BMS
V-BMS is expected to minimize adverse impacts of these prob-
lems by orienting limited budget in most necessary maintenance
and management works.
The V-BMS also eventually should be applied to the whole
population of highway bridges in Vietnam, in the present study, it
is applied only to those managed by a single management and
repair company. This is in order to satisfy for local condition: 共a兲
It is used at a tactical level by management and repair companies;
共b兲 it is simple to enable locating at the headquarters and not
requiring either expensive infrastructures 共LAN, internet, servers,
etc.兲 or superior knowledge of trained users or complex computer
programs such as Visual C++, Borland C++, and Delphi; and 共c兲 it
can store and run on normal PCs and will not generate high op-
erational costs. Fig. 5 shows the structure of the V-BMS to have
consecutive activities from ¬ to ±. It is controlled by the com-
pany’s headquarters through professional moderators for admin-
istration, edition, and assessment of data. Authorized personnel
enable logging in for information acquisition, but cannot change
the database.
Assessment Techniques
Physical Condition Rating System
An expert rating system used to evaluate the actual bridge perfor-
mance, based on the knowledge and experience acquired from
domain experts, will not be applied because of its complexity and
uncertainty 共Miyamoto et al. 2000兲. It is, however, an open option
for an extended V-BMS version if needed in the future. Instead,
the current status of bridges in Vietnam is manually rated by
experienced inspectors, based primarily on information obtained
from site observation, nondestructive tests, structural analysis,
load tests, etc. The use of manual rating satisfies moreover the
practical condition, where there is low knowledge on the expert
rating. In addition, population of bridges managed by a company
is located in a road segment for a short distance up to 300 km.
Thus, a small in-house inspector team itself can annually check
all bridges to minimize the difference and bias of human judg-
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J. Bridge Eng. 2008.13:245-257.
ment. Inspectors’ diagnoses are intuitively performed according to
a standard process written as an inspection checklist. This process
has a hierarchical structure in which the ultimate goal is “dura-
bility” and “surface appearance” of the whole bridge or its com-
ponents. Fig. 6 shows an example of the process to diagnose and
judge for the “surface appearance.” In this process at lower lev-
els, inspectors first examine any appearance of damage at bridge
sites. Meanwhile at upper levels, they intuitively judge the result
gained from site inspection to determine the current status of
surface appearance. Final judgment is the conclusion of the
bridge condition, which is evaluated according to the “durability”
and the “surface appearance.”
According to TMoVN 共1998兲, the physical condition is rated
into four levels 共Table 1兲. At level 0, a bridge is in “excellent”
condition, while physical quality and serviceability are not ad-
versely impacted by the damage, if any. When there are damages,
even not weakening its structures, the bridge is in level I or in
“good” condition. Level II indicates a bridge in “moderate” con-
dition, if there are damages, those considerably decrease its physi-
cal condition and serviceability. A bridge classified as level III
means it falls in “poor” condition. In this case, critical defects
appear on the bridge to either cause it to possibly collapse sud-
denly or prevent it from serving traffic normally. For levels 0 and
I, site maintenance is generally not needed at that moment, except
for preventive works. Level II requires corrective maintenance as
soon as possible in order to prevent current damage becoming
critical. If a bridge is in level III, its failed components must be
urgently remedied, otherwise it will not be safe or functional to
serve for normal traffic.
Lifespan Estimation
The expected and remaining lifespan of existing bridges should
be approximately estimated to make the right decision for main-
taining them in an economically safe condition. However, many
different factors that can influence the physical and functional
conditions make difficult to accurately decide the actual lifespan.
Yatomi et al. 共2004兲 considered a bridge’s actual lifespan depends
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Fig. 6. Process for diagnosis and judgment of bridge condition

not only on engineering assessment for quality and serviceability,
but on social and economical aspects as well. Different views
reflect different lifespans, thus the entire lifespan of a bridge is
estimated in three aspects of physical, serviceable, and economi-
cal life 共Fig. 7兲:
1. Physical life 共T P兲: Due to damage, bridge performance at the
time T P decreases and becomes unable to withstand normal
traffic.
2. Serviceable life 共TS兲: The function required changes due to
the change in social requirement, the expected function can
be no more realized at the time TS.
3. Economical life 共TE兲: In cost consideration required to pre-
vent the bridge from deterioration, it decides at the time TE
as posting and reconstructing option is more economic than
continued maintenance and the use of bridge.
Basically, the lifespan is physical life T P as when physical
quality approaches the posting level, the bridge cannot safely
serve traffic users. However, it is not always necessary to be the
T P if serviceable and economical factors are concurrently consid-
ered. On the one hand, if actual serviceability is unable to accom-
modate traffic demand at premature time TS, or the bridge
becomes functionally obsolete, it should be early removed from
service. In this case, the lifespan is shortened by the time TS to
reflect serviceable aspect of bridges. On the other hand, when
maintenance costs associated are over reconstruction costs, it is
economical to replace the bridge at the time TE. The lifespan is
therefore defined to be the time TE. Though the owner always
wishes T P, TS, and TE as close as possible, bridges, however, are
unlikely to have one approximating the others due to unforesee-
able climate, traffic, price fluctuation, etc. Therefore, the estima-
tion should be annually carried out to evaluate actual deterioration
and to decide an ideal lifespan.
Deterioration Prediction
Although present performance of a specific bridge can be manu-
ally estimated by experienced inspectors, it is not recommended
for the whole bridge population due to high costs and the time it
would take. Thus, prediction of physical condition and load-
carrying capacity are suggested to perform bridge deterioration
analysis with assistance of computer simulation. In this paper,
physical condition encompasses durability as the ability to resist
deterioration and surface appearance, which is defined from total
damage, execution of works, and serviceability. Meanwhile, load-
carrying capacity can be considered as the ability of the bridge to
withstand imposed loads of traffic, self-weights, winds, and so on.
The author has constructed his own method to predict physical
condition and load-carrying capacity for existing bridges in Viet-
nam 共Hai 2005兲. Assumptions were made to clarify for the
method.
1. Deterioration of a bridge is drawn as integrated convex
curves according to Eqs. 共1兲 and 共2兲, because deterioration
processes rapidly with the bridge’s age. Vertical axes repre-
sent the value of load capacity 共LC兲 and the percentage re-
maining of physical condition 共PC兲, while horizontal axes are
for elapsed time 共Fig. 8兲. RPC and RLC 共艌1兲 are experimental
constants and t⫽bridge age. PC100% and LC100%⫽physical

Table 1. Rating for the Physical Condition of Existing Bridges in Vietnam

Levels Descriptions Need of maintenance
0 There are no or minor failures and defects only; those not Not required.
impacting bridges’ structural safety and serviceability.
I There are minor failures and defects, but do not weaken Regular maintenance is required only.
structural safety and serviceability of bridges.
II There are failures and defects that currently develop and Regular and periodic maintenance are required.
impact on structural safety and serviceability of bridges.
III There are serious failures and defects that adversely impact Special maintenance is immediately required.
on structural safety and serviceability of bridges.

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J. Bridge Eng. 2008.13:245-257.

 Fig. 7. Lifespan estimation for highway bridges
condition and load-carrying capacity, respectively, when a
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newly-built bridge enters service. On the other hand, these
values, respectively, are PCPosting and LCPosting for the bridge
when being removed from service
冋 冉 冊 册
PC = PC共t兲 = 共PC100% − PCPosting兲 1 −
t
TPC
RPC
+ PCPosting
共1兲
冋 冉 冊 册
RLC
t
LC = LC共t兲 = 共LC100% − LCPosting兲 1 − + LCPosting
TLC
共2兲
2. The deterioration curves start from time 0 when a newly-
built bridge enters into service. At that time, the physical
quality is 100% and load-carrying capacity is the value of its
optimal design load. On the other hand, posting level is
moreover set at the end of the lifespan to remove the bridge
from service.
3. Site maintenance that has influence on the physical condition
and the load-carrying capacity of bridges is included in the
deterioration prediction.
Life Cycle Cost Analysis
Total costs associated over the entire lifespan that are needed to
construct, maintain, and manage a bridge since its initiation until
posting time, should be carefully analyzed. The life cycle cost
共LCC兲 reflects the economical aspect of existing bridges as an
important criterion to decide necessary works. However, there is
neither a LCC concept nor its estimation applied in Vietnam now.
This part, therefore, analyzes the LCC and applies a methodology
to ensure adequate level of lifetime reliability at the lowest pos-
sible cost. The LCC of a bridge, according to Frangopol 共1999兲,
can be expressed in Eq. 共3兲
LCC = Cinitial + Cmanagement + Cmaintenance 共3兲
Cinitial⫽initial cost needed to cover expenses associated with
feasible studies, design, construction, etc. Meanwhile, the man-
Fig. 8. Deterioration curves: Physical condition and load-carrying capacity
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J. Bridge Eng. 2008.13:245-257.
agement fee symbolized as Cmanagement⫽budget allocated for man-
aging existing bridges. Maintenance cost 共Cmaintenance兲 is paid for
site works to either remedy current damages or prevent their
occurrences. This paper assumes the Cmanagement constantly
throughout the entire lifespan for in-house management. The
Cinitial meanwhile is generated prior to year 0, when construction
of newly-built bridges is completed. However, Cmaintenance that is
emphasized in the research has changeable values to depend on
actual site maintenance. It makes remarkable differences for the
LCC and the lifespan if various maintenance options are selected.
In practice, there are many maintenance options applied for
existing bridges. The authors, however, emphasize three main op-
tions of changeable Cmaintenance shown in Fig. 9. Option ¬ does
not require site maintenance throughout the entire bridge lifespan
共Cmaintenance = 0兲. The physical condition and the load-carrying ca-
pacity, therefore, degrade freely from 100% to posting level. In
this option, while LCC1 is minimized for only Cinitial
+ Cmanagement, lifespan T1 is however in the shortest time t1. If
essential maintenance is carried out at time t2 according to option
− in order to improve or increase bridge quality, Cmaintenance gen-
erates increased total costs to LCC2 and extends lifetime to the
T2. Simultaneously, option ® considers an early preventive main-
tenance at time t3, even though the bridge is still in reasonable
physical quality and functionality. Total costs increase up to
LCC3 and the bridge can last until the T3. Depending on the
specific situation, a suitable option should be selected to enable
the owner financing for required costs and ensuring the physical
quality and the load-carrying capacity certainly above the targeted
levels.
Cost-Benefit Analysis
Cost-benefit analysis is an important factor to assist the bridge
authority selecting maintenance scope. Several specific works
will be selected if they can generate benefit higher than the ex-
pense. Oppositely, site maintenance is not carried out with those
that have a negative result of cost-benefit assessment. In principle,
cost-benefit ratio enables evaluating the efficiency of any poten-
tial work and selecting the most economical scenario. Therefore,
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Fig. 9. Life cycle cost: ¬ Without maintenance, − essential maintenance, ® preventive maintenance
an important task is to identify the cost 共C兲 and the benefit 共B兲 for
any intended maintenance. This study emphasizes the cost-benefit
ratio of intended maintenance for Cmaintenance and gained
Bmaintenance only, but not Cinitial and Cmanagement. Table 2 illustrates
the analysis for three common options:
1. The cost: Is Cmaintenance according to Eq. 共4兲. It was defined as
the total expense to enhance physical and serviceable condi-
tions, to prevent potential problems, and to eliminate existing
defects from bridge structures.
C = Cmaintenance = Cpreventive + Ccorrective + Cother 共4兲
2. The benefit: Is Bmaintenance in term of money value as better
bridge conditions or less future maintenance and failure
costs, higher traffic volumes, etc. are foreseen 共Otani et al.,
2004兲. Total benefit B calculated in Eq. 共5兲 defines the Bvehicle
for the increase of vehicles after site maintenance. The
Btime⫽time saving as the result of better serviceability. On
the other hand, if maintenance is not carried out, there is the
loss 共Bfailure兲 of users’ delays and detours, structural and ser-
viceable depreciation, extra maintenance, and so on
B = Bmaintenance = Bvehicle + Btime + Bfailure + Bother 共5兲
Maintenance Selection under Budget Constraints
Based on Priority Algorithm
Currently, highway bridges in Vietnam are in poor physical and
serviceable conditions. This, therefore, requires huge amount of
money to maintain them. The allocated budget is usually small
and covers only 30–50% of actual maintenance needs, thus the
necessary site maintenance is usually postponed or delayed 共Hai
2006兲. The approval of maintenance does not depend on bridges
only, but also on other factors such as budget availability, social
preference, personality, and intuition. The priority for repairing
and reinforcing bridges is not specified clearly at the present. In
addition, site maintenance is equally considered even though ex-
Table 2. Example of Cost-Benefit Analysis
Options Maintenance costs
Do nothing. C = Cpreventive + Cessential + Cother = 0
Essential maintenance. C = Cpreventive + Cessential + Cother = Cessential + Cother ⬎ 0
Preventive maintenance. C = Cpreventive + Cessential + Cother = Cpreventive + Cother ⬎ 0
252 / JOURNAL OF BRIDGE ENGINEERING © ASCE / MAY/JUNE 2008
J. Bridge Eng. 2008.13:245-257.
isting bridges differ in location, damage level, circumstance, etc.
The current limited budget is therefore not efficiently used to
concentrate on specific bridges for most necessary maintenance.
The priority maintenance index 共PMI兲, a technique for deter-
mining socially preferential maintenance according to bridges’
location and its current physical quality is applied. The PMI is
specifically calculated in Eq. 共6兲 for every bridge to base on sev-
eral practical factors defined according to logical suggestions of
key personnel of the bridge owner and its agencies, academic
researchers, and field specialists in Vietnam. BI and BH are
bridge importance and health indexes respectively. The ␣1 and ␣2
are importance and health factors, respectively, as their total val-
ues 共␣1 + ␣2兲 = 1. As an example for specific conditions of Viet-
nam, this paper assumes ␣1 = 0.4 and ␣2 = 0.6. The purpose of this
paper is to illustrate the computerized database, thus it will not
explain the rationale for the given value of these practical factors.
Readers who seek additional information on PMI and values of
practical factors, can refer to other publications of the author 共Hai
2005, 2006兲. In the course of bridge maintenance planning, the
bridges with higher PMI are given higher priority. Thus, the main-
tenance works on the bridges with higher PMI are executed in
early years within budget limitations and the work on the bridges
with lower PMI are postponed
PMI = ␣1BI + ␣2BH 共6兲
Bridge Importance Index (BI)
The BI is an index that represents the important charasteristic of
an individual bridge in terms of location, serviceability, and traffic
demand in the road network. It has a maximum value up to 100 in
accordance with Eq. 共7兲 as IL, IW, and IT are practical indexes of
location, width, and traffic volume, respectively 共Table 3兲
BI = IL + IW + IT 共7兲
Maintenance benefits
B = Bvehicle + Btime + Bfailure + Bother = Bfailure + Bother 艋 0
B = Bvehicle + Btime + Bfailure + Bother ⬎ 0
B = Bvehicle + Btime + Bfailure + Bother = Bvehicle + Btime + Bother ⬎ 0
 Table 3. Values of Location, Width, and Traffic Volume Indexes Table 5. Values of Serviceable Constant bi and Serviceable Coefficient
svi
Groups Options Values
Criteria svi Classifications bi
Bridge location Urban bridges IL = 40
National highway bridges IL = 35 Deck widths 10 Very wide 共over 17 m兲 1.0
Provincial road bridges IL = 25 Wide 共14– 17 m兲 0.8
District road bridges IL = 15 Medium 共10– 14 m兲 0.6
Commune road bridges IL = 5 Narrow 共6.5– 10 m兲 0.4
Very narrow 共less than 6.5 m兲 0.2
Traffic volume Extremely high with many jams IT = 40
High with few jams IT = 35 Load carrying 10 Very strong 共30 ton兲 1.0
Moderate with or without jams IT = 25 capacities Strong 共25兲 0.8
Low without jams IT = 15 Medium 共18兲 0.6
Low 共13兲 0.4
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Very low without jams IT = 5

Very low 共10兲 0.2
Bridge width Very wide 共over 17 m兲 IW = 20
Wide 共14– 17 m兲 IW = 15 Deck surfaces 10 Level III 1.0
Medium 共10– 14 m兲 IW = 10 Level II 0.75
Narrow 共6.5– 10 m兲 IW = 6 Level I 0.5
Very narrow 共less than 6.5 m兲 IW = 3 Level 0 0.25
Approach roads 5 Bridge deck is poorer than approach road. 1.0
Bridge deck is fit in approach road. 0.6
Bridge Health Index (BH) Bridge deck is better than approach road. 0.2
The index BH represents physical and serviceable conditions of Others 5 Poor serviceability. 1.0
the bridge and is an important indicator in the decision of priority.
Moderate serviceability. 0.6
While healthy bridges need less attention, deteriorated bridges
Good serviceability. 0.2
need more attention to ensure the safety and function of them. Its
value is up to 100 and calculated by Eq. 共8兲

BH = SF + SV + TP 共8兲
SV = 兺i bisvi 共10兲

1. The SF is safe degree of bridge structures with maximum 3. The TP is considered as the bridge impact on third parties
value of 50 关Eq. 共9兲兴. Values of ai that are safe constants of with a maximum value of 10. ci and tpi are third party con-
component i correlate with the physical condition 共level 0: stant and coefficient i, respectively 关Eq. 共11兲 and Table 6兴
ai = 0.25, I: ai = 0.50, II: ai = 0.75, and III: ai = 1兲. The si is a
safe coefficient of component i with practical values shown
in Table 4
TP = 兺i citpi 共11兲

SF = 兺i aisi 共9兲
Practical Demonstration of the V-BMS
2. The SV is bridge serviceability with a maximum value of 40
and calculated by Eq. 共10兲. bi and svi are serviceable constant The V-BMS is constructed on personal computers using MS Ac-
and coefficient of criteria i, respectively 共Table 5兲 cess and MS Excel languages. In the present study, it is specifi-

Table 6. Values of Third Party Constant ci and Coefficient tpi

Table 4. Values of Safe Coefficient si for Specific Components of High-
Criteria tpi Classifications ci
way Bridges
Clearance space 5 Frequently prevent vessels undercrossing. 1
Number Bridge components si
Sometimes prevent vessels undercrossing. 0.6
1 Foundations 7 Not prevent vessels undercrossing. 0.2
2 Substructures 7
Bridge location 3 Urban areas. 1
3 Superstructures 7
National highways. 0.8
4 Upper structures 6
Provincial roads. 0.6
5 Auxiliary facilities 2
District roads. 0.4
6 Approach roads 4
Commune roads. 0.2
7 Pavements 5
8 Joints 2 Physical condition 1 Level III 1
9 Painting systems 2 Level II 0.75
10 Traffic safe facilities 2 Level I 0.50
11 Bearings 2 Level 0 0.25
12 Drainage systems 2 Others 1 High impact to third party. 1
13 Waterproof systems 1 Moderate impact to third party. 0.6
14 Others 1 Low impact to third party. 0.2

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J. Bridge Eng. 2008.13:245-257.

 Table 7. List of Existing Highway Bridges Belonging to the Management and Repair Company X
Bridge Bridge Width Length Load Built
code name 共m兲 共m兲 capacity 共Year兲
B-1 Bridge 1 37.5 66.8 30 Ton 1998
B-2 Bridge 2 12.1 5.7 30 Ton 1986
B-3 Bridge 3 11.8 170.3 30 Ton 1985
B-4 Bridge 4 12.0 16.7 30 Ton 1976
B-5 Bridge 5 12.0 12.7 30 Ton 1976
B-6 Bridge 6 11.0 68.0 30 Ton 1991
B-7 Bridge 7 12.0 19.1 30 Ton 1976
B-8 Bridge 8 12.0 23.3 30 Ton 1976
B-9 Bridge 9 12.0 20.0 30 Ton 1976
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B-10 Bridge 10 12.0 28.1 30 Ton 1976

B-11 Bridge 11 12.0 18.2 30 Ton 1980
B-12 Bridge 12 11.6 59.0 30 Ton 1978
B-13 Bridge 13 12.6 26.3 30 Ton 1977
B-14 Bridge 14 12.6 14.2 30 Ton 1976
B-15 Bridge 15 13.0 23.2 30 Ton 1976
B-16 Bridge 16 12.2 5.7 30 Ton 1977
B-17 Bridge 17 12.0 21.1 30 Ton 1978
B-18 Bridge 18 12.0 27.5 30 Ton 1978
B-19 Bridge 19 12.0 18.5 30 Ton 1978
B-20 Bridge 20 12.0 21.2 30 Ton 1978
B-21 Bridge 21 12.9 26.6 30 Ton 1978
B-22 Bridge 22 16.1 61.6 30 Ton 1994
B-23 Bridge 23 7.9 13.8 25 Ton 1964
B-24 Bridge 24 9.0 47.9 25 Ton 1970
B-25 Bridge 25 9.5 30.0 30 Ton 1995
B-26 Bridge 26 5.5 24.4 25 Ton 1965
B-27 Bridge 27 5.5 24.4 25 Ton 1965
B-28 Bridge 28 9.4 42.2 13 Ton 1967
B-29 Bridge 29 7.6 17.6 13 Ton 1967

Fig. 10. Output screens for: management subdatabase and bridge inventory data

254 / JOURNAL OF BRIDGE ENGINEERING © ASCE / MAY/JUNE 2008

J. Bridge Eng. 2008.13:245-257.

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Fig. 11. Output screen for the lifespan estimation and deterioration prediction

cally applied in the management and repair company X as a dem-

onstrated example for the validity of the system. The company
executes the management and maintenance works of the 29 ex-
isting bridges on the 150 km national highway segment of Viet-
nam 共Table 7兲. The V-BMS consists of three interlinked modules, Table 8. Maintenance Priority Order and Costs for Bridges Managed by
the Company X
subdatabase for management, subdatabase for assessment, and
subdatabase for maintenance. At first, the bridge-related inventory Bridge Bridge Priority index Maintenance
data such as physical condition state, serviceability, maintenance code name 共PMI兲—order costs 共VND兲
works, and surrounding condition are collected and stored in the B-1 Bridge 1 60.17共14兲 5,000,000
submodules for management and maintenance. Next, it estimates B-2 Bridge 2 85.21 共1兲 1,300,000
several important criteria, such as the remaining life, the present B-3 Bridge 3 65.49共10兲 16,800,000
state of deterioration, the life-cycle costs and cost-benefit analy-
B-4 Bridge 4 58.83共16兲 2,700,000
sis, as well as priority maintenance index by computer simulation
B-5 Bridge 5 52.16共23兲 1,600,000
and expert opinion allocated in the assessment module. The
B-6 Bridge 6 72.31 共5兲 6,700,000
V-BMS then lists up the scope of maintenance works and associ-
ated costs in the order of priority for the following year. Finally, B-7 Bridge 7 53.61共21兲 2,900,000
authorized in-house staff decide the scope of maintenance works B-8 Bridge 8 51.28共24兲 1,800,000
for the next fiscal year based on the budget availability, traffic B-9 Bridge 9 55.67共17兲 500,000
conditions, and social requirements, by referring to the results of B-10 Bridge 10 75.11 共4兲 2,600,000
analysis. B-11 Bridge 11 62.85共11兲 3,600,000
B-12 Bridge 12 49.86共27兲 9,000,000
B-13 Bridge 13 50.96共26兲 1,100,000
Bridge Management Module B-14 Bridge 14 54.57共18兲 2,100,000
B-15 Bridge 15 69.25 共6兲 4,700,000
The output screen of the management module shown in Fig. 10 B-16 Bridge 16 53.57共20兲 900,000
indicates general information of codes, names, locations, struc- B-17 Bridge 17 58.96共15兲 2,800,000
tural types, etc. to help the V-BMS users quickly allocate a bridge B-18 Bridge 18 49.17共28兲 3,600,000
in its population. Furthermore, detailed data stored into low hier- B-19 Bridge 19 78.63 共2兲 8,700,000
archy levels of policies, inventory data, external conditions, con- B-20 Bridge 20 60.34共13兲 1,800,000
struction and design documents, historical incidents, and other
B-21 Bridge 21 68.15 共8兲 4,100,000
information are interlinked with the main management screen.
B-22 Bridge 22 48.72共29兲 1,300,000
B-23 Bridge 23 76.74 共3兲 5,600,000
B-24 Bridge 24 52.67共22兲 500,000
Bridge Assessment Module
B-25 Bridge 25 51.17共25兲 6,900,000
From several theories and calculated methods presented in the B-26 Bridge 26 62.58共12兲 2,300,000
previous section, the V-BMS assesses and simulates actual bridge B-27 Bridge 27 68.67 共7兲 1,400,000
conditions and their future trends for lifespan estimation, deterio- B-28 Bridge 28 54.93共19兲 7,100,000
ration prediction, LCC, cost-benefit analysis, and PMI. The result B-29 Bridge 29 65.81 共9兲 2,700,000
is all plotted on computer screens as examples shown in Fig. 11 Total required maintenance cost 112,100,000
and Table 8. Note: VND is Vietnamese Dong, the official currency of Vietnam.

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J. Bridge Eng. 2008.13:245-257.

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Fig. 12. Output screen for the maintenance records

Fig. 13. Output screen for the scopes of maintenance

Bridge Maintenance Module
256 / JOURNAL OF BRIDGE ENGINEERING © ASCE / MAY/JUNE 2008

J. Bridge Eng. 2008.13:245-257.

 Maintenance-related data of existing bridges are located into this
module as examples of the maintenance records 共Fig. 12兲 and the
maintenance selection for next fiscal years 共Fig. 13兲. It stores
information of past and in-progress maintenance regarding their
scopes, locations, costs, etc. By supervising site works, in-house
staff and moderators enable collecting all this information to input
into the database. Meanwhile, the provided annual budget is
enough to execute only 30–50% of the actual demands. It is im-
possible for the management and repair companies to carry out all
the maintenance work, and only on a limited numbers of the
bridges. The V-BMS moreover divides site maintenance into
compulsory and selective works. The compulsory maintenance
encompasses tasks that must be urgently carried out in order to
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ensure minimum allowable levels of safety and serviceability.
Meanwhile, the selective maintenance is noncritical tasks cur-
rently. However, if the budget is available, they should be carried
out soon in order to prevent the occurrence of potential problems
in the future.
Conclusions
This paper introduces a practical maintenance management sys-
tem 共V-BMS兲 for highway bridges in Vietnam. By reviewing the
current status of existing bridges in terms of the physical quality
and the maintenance management practice, two physical and three
management problems are clearly identified. On the other hand,
several advanced assessment techniques such as lifespan estima-
tion, deterioration prediction, life cycle cost analysis, cost-benefit
analysis, and maintenance priority index are also included in the
proposal. A computerized database, considered as the most impor-
tant core of the V-BMS, is therefore constructed to consist of
modules of management, assessment, and maintenance. The paper
considers if the system is properly applied, it can eliminate two
management problems, and minimize adverse impacts of the re-
maining problems. In order to make the V-BMS compliant with
the practical condition of Vietnam, the study simplifies the com-
puterized database to apply at a tactical level and does not require
expensive infrastructures or superior knowledge. It therefore can
run in normal PCs and will not generate high operational costs.
Demonstration of the V-BMS on computer screens for a specific
management and repair company in Vietnam is further illustrated
to prove the validity of the new maintenance management system.
The V-BMS has been pilot tested since late 2005 to a specific
management and repair company in Vietnam. The smooth opera-
tion of the computerized database was undoubted evidence of its
validation on actual maintenance management practice for exist-
ing bridges in Vietnam. It enables reducing significantly in-house
staff assigned to management of inventory data, quickly
inputting/outputting updated information related to bridges, and
appropriately assessing physical and serviceable conditions as
well as priority maintenance order for the whole bridge popula-
tion. Moreover, the test has proved the simplification of the data-
base and does not require expensive infrastructures. This is a very
important aspect to feasibly apply to Vietnam, a developing coun-
try that currently lacks know-how personnel and financial
sources.
JOURNAL OF BRIDGE ENGINEERING © ASCE / MAY/JUNE 2008 / 257
J. Bridge Eng. 2008.13:245-257.
In order to execute a successful application of the V-BMS for
the whole bridge population, the recommendation is to carry out
further practical validations on various actual conditions of Viet-
nam. Necessary modification of the system may be needed for
several groups of bridges that differ from geographical condition,
the climate, imposed traffic, society, and so on. The influence of
practical factors into the maintenance priority index should be
considered too to accurately eliminate man-made errors of the
V-BMS. Moreover, training for in-house staff in charge of han-
dling the new system is recommended to smoothly run the model
of maintenance management system on specific conditions of
Vietnam. Further research needs also to make the V-BMS more
robust with better automatic functions and to apply it to all
bridges in the country by setting up linkages with all maintenance
agencies.
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