TITLE:
The Markovian Approach for Probabilistic Life-Cycle Assessment of Existing Structures
AUTHORS:
Elsa Garavaglia, Noemi Basso, Luca Sgambi
KEYWORDS:
Structural Deterioration Process; Transition Processes; Markov Renewal Processes; Lifetime Assessment; Selective Maintenance Planning
JOURNAL NAME:
Applied Mathematics,
Vol.3 No.12A,
December
31,
2012
ABSTRACT:
The reliability
of structural systems, lying in aggressive environments, changes over time.
Proper maintenance is usually required to achieve a suitable performance level
of life-cycle. The damage process affecting the systems often suffers from
uncertainty due to the randomness involved in each environmental attack.
Therefore, basing on suitable damage modeling as well as on probabilistic
analysis, the main features of time-variant deterioration process are modeled
and then the life-cycle is assessed. On the basis of Markov renewal theory
(MRT), this paper proposes a combined approach using an appropriate time
dependent damage model and probabilistic analysis. Since repairing deteriorated
structures requires the arrangement of maintenance strategies, possible
selective maintenance scenarios have to be considered. Referring to the
relationship between MRT and an appropriate condition index, some repair
strategies have been proposed and compared with each other. Those strategies
are applied just to seriously deteriorated members. Furthermore selective
maintenance benefits are economically investigated.