BIG BRO - Decision support for maintenance and upgrading of existing transportation infrastructure

Important results from the project

The project’s main objective was to develop a new framework for decision support to enable a rational and scientific basis for decisions concerning maintenance actions of existing transport infrastructure. The project team has developed a framework for rational decision-making concerning condition assessment, where the focus was to develop strategies for how various decision alternatives can be evaluated and develop a methodology for supporting decisions with the help of probability-based methods.

Expected long term effects

The idea with the project was to contribute to the next generation of conditions assessment and maintenance. This includes data-driven maintenance methods since the decision builds upon extensive data obtained through e.g. structural health monitoring. The first step in this, the development of the theoretical model has been carried out; however, the practical implementation is necessary to achieve the expected impacts. This requires that data for the model’s inputs is collected systematically.

Approach and implementation

First a review and critical evaluation of existing concepts has been performed with input from all project partners. Then a new theoretical decision model has been developed. To illustrate how the developed decision model can be used, it has been applied to illustrative case studies: a steel and a concrete bridge, which would support the development of tools and guidelines. Dissemination and exploitation have been ensured through several conference and journal papers, a research report, a thesis work and 2 workshops organized within the project.