A degradation and maintenance model: application to portuguese context

Abstract

Degradation and maintenance models can be used to optimize bridge interventions and, for com-panies responsible for bridges management, these tools can be very useful, because they can permit significant cost savings during operation. This paper presents degradation and maintenance models to better predict bridge deterioration and to optimize interventions during the bridge life cycle. In this case, Markov models are in the basis of a degradation model, being optimized through a likelihood maximization function. For these models it is also evaluated the fit quality. For the maintenance model it is considered the improvement in performance and the deterioration delay effect of each action, for preventive and corrective actions. After presenting the developed models, it is also provided the results from its application to the Portuguese context.