ASCE has honored Qian Chen, Ph.D., P.E., M.ASCE; Hongfan Wang; Baidurya Bhattacharya, Ph.D., F.ASCE; Sherif El-Tawil, Ph.D., P.E., F.SEI, F.ASCE; Anil K. Agrawal, Ph.D., P.E., F.SEI, Dist.M.ASCE; and Waider Wong with the 2025 Moisseiff Award for the paper “Reliability-Based Framework for Structural Robustness Evaluation of Bridges,” Journal of Bridge Engineering, April 2024.
This paper addresses a critical gap in the field of structural engineering by assessing and quantifying the structural robustness of long-span bridges under extreme hazards. Existing methods often fall short. The paper proposes a new robustness index based on a reliability-based framework describing a bridge’s resistance to member loss.
Applicability and versatility of the proposed approach are effectively demonstrated through its application to a variety of bridge types, and various damage scenarios were simulated for each exampled bridge, demonstrating the methodology’s capability.
Hence, it can be used as a comprehensive tool to assess the safety of bridges in their intact and damaged conditions to facilitate critical decisions on design and retrofit needs. The nature of this method makes it an invaluable tool for enhancing the resilience and safety of bridge infrastructures, considering the urgent needs for the hundreds of thousands of “structurally deficient” bridges in the United States.
The Moisseiff Award is given to the author or authors of an important paper published by the Society dealing with the broad field of structural design, including applied mechanics, as well as the theoretical analysis or construction improvement of engineering structures, such as bridges and frames, of any structural material.
