Journal of Infrastructure Systems

The purpose of this study is to develop a method for assessing the risk associated with scour threat to bridge foundations. In response to numerous scour-related bridge failures, the Federal Highway Administration has mandated that states evaluate all bridges over water for scour. The Federal Highway Administration recently released HEC-18 to serve as a guidance manual in evaluating scour. In evaluating bridge scour, however, foundation information is needed to quantify vulnerability to scour damage, and this information is not available for many bridges. The methodology developed in this study will set priorities for bridge foundation information gathering. The risk of scour failure is calculated as the product of the cost associated with failure and the probability of scour failure. The method is based on data (much of which is subjective) contained in the National Bridge Inventory. The risk determines the ranking of bridges for foundation data gathering in support of scour evaluation; high-calculated risks could vanish if substantial foundations are discovered.

In a housing market model, the supply of housing, particularly new houses, is usually treated in a very cursory fashion, with new housing being regarded as homogeneously good and building cost function defined as a function of capital and labor costs. This paper formally recognizes heterogeneity in a housing model and introduces engineering design parameters in building cost function. Using structural engineering concepts, an engineering cost function is derived in terms of design parameters. A multiobjective compromise optimization algorithm is suggested to choose from various building cost functions. An empirical application of this method is demonstrated by solving the production function of a modular room 3.5 m × 3.5 m in area and 3.14 m in height.