Value of information of a pro-active SHM-based tool supported by advanced FE models and Bayesian statistics towards efficiency in bridge management

Abstract

Bridges are critical components in the extensive European transportation network, most of them built as part of the post-World War II reconstruction effort. This means that society is facing the beginning of the end of their design life, showing the necessity of enhanced approaches, complementing visual inspections, to improve the efficiency in bridge management. Knowing in advance the Return on Investment (RoI), of such enhanced approaches, becomes appealing information for decision-makers. This work introduces a formulation for the quantification of the Value of Information (VoI, i.e. the RoI) of a pro-active Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) tool devoted to early damage detection. A comprehensive case study—the Lezíria Bridge—is used by benefiting from (i) an SHM system operating since construction, 2006, and an accurate FE model of the structure. The structural behaviour and sensors’ measurements for a set of likely damages are anticipated via the mentioned FE model. Based on this, it is shown that RoI can go up, approximately, between +11.7% and +13.1%. How these values were reached are explained from a pedagogical and comprehensive perspective, focussing on how to benefit effectively from the installed monitoring system in the future considering the inevitable ageing of the structure.

Keywords:

• Decision-making
• return on investment
• the value of information
• measurement uncertainty
• bridge management
• structural health monitoring
• concrete bridges

Acknowledgments

The COST Action TU1402 on Quantifying the Value of Structural Health Monitoring is gratefully acknowledged for the inspiring discussions, contributions, and workshops across the scientific and engineering disciplines with researchers, industrial experts, and representatives of infrastructure operators, owners, and authorities.