ABSTRACT
Infrastructure plays a pivotal role in a nation’s economy, prosperity and social well being. This has been well recognized by industry, business, community and political leaders all over the world. However, due to their long-term service, coupled with exposure to aggressive environment and increased demands, deterioration of and damage to infrastructure has led to unserviceable or unsafe operation, and in some cases, catastrophic collapses of infrastructure both underground and aboveground. To ensure the safe and serviceable operation of infrastructure, maintenance, including repairs, strengthening, installment, etc., for infrastructure is essential. The problem is how to determine when, where and what to maintain at a minimal risk and with effective cost. A lack of such rational strategy has resulted in a situation where safe structures or components have been routinely maintained unnecessarily, whilst un-serviceable or near failure structures have not been maintained timely, leading to avoidable failures. Evidently, a change of such situation demands a risk-cost optimized maintenance strategy.
