Life-Cycle Cost Analysis using Deterministic and Stochastic Methods: Conflicting Results
This article is a reply.
VIEW THE ORIGINAL ARTICLEPublication: Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 16, Issue 2
Abstract
Life-cycle cost analysis is an essential approach to differentiating alternative rehabilitation strategies for steel bridge paint systems. An economic analysis (EA), which is a deterministic method, and the Markov decision process (MDP), which is a stochastic method, were used to carry out the life-cycle cost analysis. These analyses were applied to data from two state Departments of Transportation. The deterioration curves for steel bridge paint condition rating against age were constructed. Different rehabilitation scenarios were proposed for steel bridge paint. The EA and the MDP were used to analyze and differentiate among the proposed rehabilitation scenarios. The results of the EA were different from those of MDP for the two data sets. MDP favored the “do nothing” scenario until the end of paint life and then a complete repainting. EA indicated that the scenario “do spot repairs at state 3 of the paint life” and repeat that until the end of the bridge life was superior. The results were analyzed to determine the reason for the conflict.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Abraham, D. M., Wirahadikusumah, R., Short, T. J., and Shahbahrami, S.(1998). “Optimization modeling for sewer network management.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage. 124(5), 402–410.
Carnahan, J. V., and Marsh, C.(1998). “Comparative life-cycle cost analysis of underground heat distribution systems.” J. Transp. Eng. 124(6), 594–605.
Hillier, F. S., and Lieberman, G. J. (1986). Introduction to operations research, 4th Ed., Holden-Day, Oakland, Calif.
Riggs, J. L. (1986). Engineering economics, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Scherer, W. T., and Glagola, D. M. (1993). “An overview of Markovian models for bridge management systems.” Proc., Infrastructure: Planning and Management, ASCE, New York, 382–386.
Tam, C. K., and Stiemer, S. F.(1996). “Development of bridge corrosion cost model for coating maintenance.” J. Perform. Constr. Facil. 10(2), 47–56.
Wirahadikusumah, R. (1998). “Sewer management life cycle cost approach.” PhD research proposal, Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, Ind.
Zayed, T. M., and Fricker, J. D. (1999). “Life-cycle cost analysis and maintenance plan.” Rep. Prepared for INDOT, Construction Division, School of Civil Engineering, Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, Ind.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
Copyright © 2002 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Feb 26, 2001
Accepted: Oct 26, 2001
Published online: Apr 15, 2002
Published in print: May 2002
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.