A Novel Decision Support System for Long-Term Management of Bridge Networks

Developing a bridge management strategy at the network level with efficient use of capital is very important for optimal infrastructure remediation. This paper introduces a novel decision support system that considers many aspects of bridge management and successfully implements the investigated methodology in a web-based platform. The proposed decision support system uses advanced prediction models, decision trees, and incremental machine learning algorithms to generate an optimal decision strategy. The system aims to achieve adaptive and flexible decision making while entailing powerful utilization of nondestructive evaluation (NDE) methods. The NDE data integration and visualization allow automatic retrieval of inspection results and overlaying the defects on a 3D bridge model. Furthermore, a deep learning-based damage growth prediction model estimates the future condition of the bridge elements and utilizes this information in the decision-making process. The decision ranking takes into account a wide range of factors including structural safety, serviceability, rehabilitation cost, life cycle cost, and societal and political factors to generate optimal maintenance strategies with multiple decision alternatives. This study aims to bring a complementary solution to currently in-use systems with the utilization of advanced machine-learning models and NDE data integration while still equipped with main bridge management functions of bridge management systems and capable of transferring data to other systems.