Bridge Assessment Course (BAC)
Upcoming Courses
Target Audience:
This course is dedicated for military engineers from NATO and Partner Nations (PfP and MD) involved in bridge reconnaissance and bridge assessment training and exercises – all ranks NCOs and OF 1 to OF 3.
Formerly known as the International Bridge Assessment Course, hosted by the MILENG COE which took place in Ingolstadt in 2015, 2016 and 2017, this renewed course will be organised as a result from the Interoperable Bridge Classification Project sponsored by NATO HQ and led by the MILENG COE.
The aim of the course is to inform the attendees on the products resulted from the above mentioned project that will be proposed as NATO common methodologies for bridge assessment in the next edition of STANAG 2021:
- A booklet for rapid bridge assessment with correlation charts based on bridge design standards corresponding to various nations; different charts for assessing a bridge using the observation of the current traffic (the vehicle silhouettes methodology) will be also part of this booklet;
- A Traffic Correlation Method – a software for rapid assessment for Windows operating systems.
- A Parameter Correlation Method – a software for rapid assessment for Android operating systems.
- A Rapid Analytical Method - a software for rapid assessment for Windows operating systems.
- A Detailed / Critical Analytical Method - a software for detailed assessment for Windows operating Systems.
The course will be supported by the Subject Matter Experts involved in the products development for the last 4 years, coming from Belgium, Canada (the Royal Military College) and Germany (The University of Bundeswehr).
Remark:
The Bridge Assessment Course will go into detail, explaining the
students how the products have been developed and how they must be operated.
Detailed reconnaissance in the field for some bridges will be also organized.
In general, the students will have the following training content:
General remarks as per STANAG 2021 - (Allied Engineering Publication 3.12.1.5 - Military Load Classification of Bridges, Ferries, Rafts and Vehicles);
Review of the forces, mechanical physics and structural engineering associated with the bridge designs and bridge operation;
- Bridge assessment equipment;
- Bridge reconnaissance in the field and bridge assessment reports;
- Calculation of MLC with all methods, (supervised performance in syndicates and classroom environment);
- “Other topics” e.g. bridge reconnaissance and bridge assessment as per
different national approaches, etc.
Way ahead:
As these products will be disseminated to NATO Nations and Partners (PfP and MD) that will be proposed as NATO common standards for bridge assessment in the next edition of the STANAG 2021 – Edition 9 – MILENG COE will take all necessary measures to continue to host this course (each year in Jun - Jul) as a NATO Listed Course.
