A Risk-Based Structural Assessment Approach for Port Metro Vancouver’s Asset Management

This paper presents a risk-based structural assessment methodology used in conjunction with a life cycle cost analysis to assist Port Metro Vancouver develop a multi-year works program with funding needs for maintaining the reliability of its assets. The risk measure is based on the probability of structural failure and the monetary consequence of failure, and accounts for the deterioration of material over time. For steel, the corrosion rate was used as the measure of deterioration. For reinforced concrete, material modelling estimated the rate of degradation, the onset and the progression of rebar corrosion over time. The failure probabilities were estimated first by assuming that no repair or rehabilitation is performed. Then various scenarios of preventative risk mitigation measures were considered, and their associated costs were used in the life cycle cost analysis to develop strategies for asset management. An example of the completed projects, the merits, and the limitations of this approach are presented.