Managing scour risk for effective bridge management decisions across Northern Ireland

This thesis investigates how improved data quality, enhanced sensing technologies, and greater inspection consistency can strengthen scour risk management across Northern Ireland's bridge stock. The overarching aim is to support better asset management decisions through cleaner inspection records, improved detection of both historic and active scour, and improved consistency of visual bridge inspections.<br>The research begins with the cleansing of more than 20 years of bridge inspection records, addressing critical errors and omissions that undermine reliable risk assessment.

This process confirmed the prominence of scour related defects and revealed regional and inspector level variability in condition ratings. These insights informed the development and deployment of a targeted training programme. Pre and post training assessments demonstrate widespread inconsistency in the identification and classification of defects, highlighting the importance of structured training for improving inspection reliability.<br><br>To overcome the limitations of visual inspections in detecting historic scour, the study applies water penetrating radar (WPR) and sonar to detect subsurface scour features and sediment infill.