Construction 4.0 is a platform that combines digital and physical technologies to enhance the design and construction of the built environment. Bridge Information Modeling (BrIM), a component of Construction 4.0′s digital technologies, streamlines construction processes and promotes collaboration among project stakeholders. In this study, a comprehensive literature review and bibliometric and content analysis are conducted on building information modeling (BIM), life cycle assessment (LCA), life cycle cost (LCC), BrIM, and Bridge LCA. This study investigates the potential integration of BrIM, LCA, and LCC as inputs for bridges’ LCA to enhance decision making by providing designers with detailed and interactive cost and environmental information throughout an asset’s lifecycle and explores the functionalities of Construction 4.0 and its potential influence on the economy and sustainability of bridge projects. The reviewed literature showed that the tools currently used to apply LCA and LCC methods for infrastructure assets lack the ability to identify possible integration with BrIM and hold limitations in their key functions for identifying the utmost features that need to be adopted in the creation of any tool to increase the general resilience of bridges and infrastructure.

Coatings are essential for protecting structural steel bridges from corrosion in harsh environmental conditions. The selection of a suitable coating system can significantly impact the performance and longevity of a bridge as well as its environmental footprint. This study investigates the U.S. and Canada’s environmental ISO corrosivity map and the general environments to which bridges are exposed. Additionally, environmental data and road maintenance practices of transportation departments and the use of de-icing salts were investigated to examine the impact of micro-corrosive environments on bridge elements. The study reviews commonly examined coating systems and their expected service life in moderate and highly corrosive environments. This sheds light on factors influencing coating system selection, such as life-cycle cost analysis and maintenance practices for bridge elements. For the first time to our knowledge, an environmental life-cycle evaluation of one of the most commonly used coating systems with theoretical maintenance scheduling for a bridge project’s expected service life is presented to encourage the use of a quantitative tool for environmental impact assessment of coatings in terms of global warming potential (GWP). Additionally, perspectives on patented state-of-the-art and future steel-protective technologies and their potential role in bridge engineering are reviewed.

In concrete pavements, steel dowels are exposed to a particularly aggressive environment that leads to depassivation and greatly reduces the corrosion initiation stage. Aggressive agents such as chlorides and C O2 have easy access to the dowels through pavement joints and, consequently, the corrosion performance of the system depends largely on the properties of the steel dowel being used. This study investigates the corrosion performance of several types of steel dowels embedded in concrete and subjected to accelerated corrosion by exposure to 3.5% NaCl solution for 18 months . Seven types of dowels were tested: bare carbon steel, stainless steel clad, grout-filled hollow stainless steel, microcomposite steel, carbon steel coated with bendable epoxy, and carbon steel coated with nonbendable epoxies. Half-cell potential, polarization resistance, visual inspections, and microscopic investigations by scanning electron microscopy were carried out to evaluate their corrosion performance. Results show that mic...

This experimental study evaluates the galvanic corrosion risk between stainless steel bolts and ASTM A1010 steel bridge girders. Two stainless steel structural bolts, ASTM A320 B8 Class 2 and A193 B6 stainless steel bolts, are studied, because they are currently deemed to be compatible with, and recommended for use in new A1010 steel bridge girders. In the electrochemical experiments, the galvanic coupling current and potential are obtained in aerated salt solutions that simulate chloride-laden environments for A1010 steel bridges. The results show that B6 stainless steel might not be adequate in corrosive environments, because it was found to suffer severe pitting corrosion, and the galvanic corrosion risk of using B8 bolts with A1010 steel was found to be negligible. This finding will be further validated by the visual examinations of bolted A1010 steel plates in salt spray testing and confirmed by the pitting corrosion of B6 washers used in an A1010 bridge after 1 year of service. This study demonstrates that the galvanic corrosion risk has to be studied through properly designed corrosion experiments, and deductions from conventional knowledge of the composition of materials and their corrosion resistance is not sufficient to understand the actual galvanic corrosion risk of dissimilar metals in bridge applications.

We demonstrate a broadband low-loss nonvolatile 2×2 silicon directional coupler switch based on phase-change material Sb₂Se₃. The switch has a low insertion loss of ~0.5 dB, a compact footprint of ~41 µm, and less than -10 dB crosstalk across ~33 nm bandwidth around 1550nm.