A knowledge-based system for maintenance planning of highway concrete bridges

This paper presents a knowledge-based system that is used for maintenance planning of highway concrete bridges. The system includes functions for maintenance priority setting among bridges, feasible treatment assessment in each case, and maintenance planning for a bridge stock. Maintenance priorities are set using a scoring model with decision parameters appropriately weighted. Feasible treatments are determined based on bridge condition and other factors that accelerate deterioration. Decisions for maintenance planning result from a linear programming model and are based on priority ranking, cost and effectiveness characteristics of feasible treatments, and existing budget constraints. The system has been successfully evaluated with actual and simulated data.