A simplified method to evaluate the fire risk of liquid dangerous chemical transport vehicles passing a highway bridge

The collision or leakage accidents of dangerous chemical transport vehicles (DCTV) are often reported to occur during a travel on the highway bridges, posing a great risk to the safety of bridge structures. This paper proposes a simplified, semi-quantitative fire risk evaluation and classification method for liquid DCTV passing highway bridges. This method integrates four control parameters that significantly affect the fire risk, including the passing frequency and maximum sectional area of vehicles, the flash point and combustion heat of dangerous chemicals. The risk degree of DCTV is determined by the multiplication of the above four parameters after data standardization. Based on the risk evaluation, a risk classification and control method is presented to allow daily risk management of DCTV passing a highway bridge. Taizhou Bridge is used as an example to demonstrate the application of this simplified evaluation method, by which the fire risk classification and control strategies are obtained for DCTV passing Taizhou Bridge.