ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT: The paper describes the methodology for a probabilistic life-cycle cost approach to management of structures applied to the national road network in the Netherlands. A large fraction of these structures, mainly concrete highway bridges, were built in the seventies of the previous century. The annual maintenance costs of these bridges form a substantial part of the total budget. A long-term prognosis of maintenance costs is made. Using renewal theory, the expected cost of maintenance is computed as a function of time by modeling repairs, replacements, inspections and routine maintenance of the bridge elements as “renewals”. Uncertainty in maintenance intervals is taken into account. Two different scenarios are used, with and without backlog of maintenance.
