Ranking Procedure on Maintenance Tasks for Monitoring of Embankment Dams

A multistep strategy for the prioritization of maintenance and repair funds for the monitoring of embankment dams is proposed wherein the most important device in the worst condition is preferred. The strategy involves determining the importance of each device (in terms of dam safety) and measuring its condition through field inspections. A condition definition for each device is developed in terms of its ability to function optimally in its diagnostic role. Relative importance of the monitoring devices is defined in terms of diagnostic value and proceeds by considering: (1) the failure modes and their conditional probabilities; (2) adverse conditions and their conditional probabilities; (3) indicators that provide information on these adverse conditions and their relative diagnostic value; and (4) monitoring devices that are used to assess the presence of the indicators and their relative diagnostic value. A panel of dam safety experts is used to answer the questions necessary to implement this methodology through a process of expert elicitation. An interactive DOS-based C++ computer program has been developed to assist in the expert elicitation necessary to implement this methodology.