Risk-informed condition assessment of civil infrastructure: state of practice and research issues

TLDR

Civil infrastructure in the United States is at risk from aging, leading to deterioration of bridges, buildings, and other facilities, and current codes of practice provide little guidance for evaluating existing facilities for continued service. Decisions on maintenance and rehabilitation should be based on quantitative evidence that aging has not compromised structural capacity, aiming to maximize future performance at minimal cost. Probabilistic risk analysis methods, which are data‑intensive and rely on improved physical models of deterioration, provide quantitative tools essential for managing uncertainty in condition assessment.

Abstract

Civil infrastructure in the United States is at risk from aging, leading to structural deterioration of bridges, buildings, and other facilities from aggressive chemical attack, corrosion, and other physical mechanisms. Decisions regarding maintenance, rehabilitation and other requirements for continued utilization of a facility should be supported by quantitative evidence that aging has not caused structural strength or stiffness to deteriorate to the point where the capacity of the system to withstand or mitigate future extreme events is impaired. Current codes of practice provide little guidance for the proper evaluation of existing facilities for continued service, since their focus is on new construction. Rehabilitation investments should be aimed at maximizing the likelihood of successful future performance at minimum costs. Probabilistic risk analysis methods can provide quantitative tools for the management of uncertainty in condition assessment and are an essential ingredient of risk-informed management decisions. Such tools are data-intensive and require improved physical models of deterioration processes to realize their full potential in facility risk management.