Structural Engineering and Mechanics

Volume 37, Number 6, 2011, pages 685-691

DOI: 10.12989/sem.2011.37.6.685

A custom building deterioration model

O.A. Hosny, A.A. Elhakeem and T. Hegazy

Abstract

Developing accurate prediction models for deterioration behavior represents a challenging but essential task in comprehensive Infrastructure Management Systems. The challenge may be a result of the lack of historical data, impact of unforeseen parameters, and/or the past repair/maintenance practices. These realities contribute heavily to the noticeable variability in deterioration behavior even among similar components. This paper introduces a novel approach to predict the deterioration of any infrastructure component. The approach is general as it fits any component, however the prediction is custom for a specific item to consider the inherent impacts of expected and unexpected parameters that affect its unique deterioration behavior.

Key Words

IMS; deterioration modeling; Markov chains; optimization; repair and maintenance.

Address

O.A. Hosny: The American University in Cairo, Cairo, Egyp A.A. Elhakeem: AUC/KAUST, The American University in Cairo, Cairo, Egypt T. Hegazy: University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada