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On the role of inspections and interventions in infrastructure management
Author(s) -
Adey B. T.,
Jamali A.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
materials and corrosion
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.487
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 1521-4176
pISSN - 0947-5117
DOI - 10.1002/maco.201206656
Subject(s) - psychological intervention , rule of thumb , risk analysis (engineering) , business , operations management , bridge (graph theory) , service (business) , process management , computer science , engineering , marketing , medicine , algorithm , psychiatry
In this article, a view of the role of inspections and interventions in the management of infrastructure is presented. The paper is to serve as a reminder, in a time when there is ever increasing discussion over the durability/sustainability of structures, that infrastructure exists to provide an adequate level of service over a specified time period and that the goal of management is to ensure that this level of service is provided while incurring the least total negative impacts; impacts that can be incurred through normal use, and the execution of inspections and interventions. The significance of this view in determining the inspections and interventions to be included in optimal management strategies is demonstrated through an example where the optimal management strategies for a reinforced concrete bridge deck are determined under different assumptions of the value of negative impacts. It is shown that it is impossible to determine the inspections and interventions to be included in an optimal management strategy without first developing all management strategies to be investigated and determining the one that results in the least negative impacts. It is also shown that many rules of thumb used to select inspections and interventions, such as inspections which provide more accurate information are better than those that provide less accurate information, are not always true.