Optimal seismic retrofit and maintenance strategy for steel bridges using Life-Cycle Cost analysis

ABSTRACT: This study is to develop a realistic methodology for determination of the optimal seismic retrofit and maintenance strategy of deteriorating bridges. The proposed methodology is based on the concept of minimum LCC which is expressed as the sum of present value of seismic retrofit costs, expected maintenance costs, and expected economic losses with the constraint such as design requirements. The proposed methodology is applied to the LCC-effective optimal seismic retrofit and maintenance strategy of a steel bridge considered as an example bridge in the accompanying proceeding paper. From the numerical investigation, it may be positively expected that the proposed methodology can be effectively utilized as a practical tool for the decision-making of LCC-effective optimal seismic retrofit and maintenance strategy of deteriorating bridges.