Life cycle cost comparison of strengthening a steel bridge using post-installed shear connectors with bridge reconstruction

The growth of the world population increases traffic loads on infrastructures. Due to considerable number of low-capacity steel bridges, transportation agencies need to strengthen or rebuild them as two possible scenarios. As a novel means of strengthening low-capacity steel bridges, post-installed shear connectors lack economic analysis determining the user and agency costs. To this end, this paper focuses on the life cycle cost comparison of strengthening steel bridges using post-installed shear connectors with bridge reconstruction. Moreover, a steel bridge in Lakeport, Texas, that was strengthened using the aforementioned method is presented in the case study. One of the main contributions of this study is determining the life cycle cost of post-installed shear connectors, which provides important managerial insights to transportation agencies interested in deciding about rebuilding or strengthening steel bridges. The deterministic analysis results indicate that bridge strengthening is more beneficial for all stakeholders than bridge reconstruction. Furthermore, the results depict that user cost is the dominant contributor to total life-cycle costs. Considering the stochastic nature of LCCA elements, the probabilistic analysis results show the same results as deterministic analysis. Finally, the sensitivity analysis suggests that the discount rate is the most influential parameter on the life cycle cost.