Evaluation of Policies for the Maintenance of Bridges Using Discrete-event Simulation

The complexities and costs associated with preserving the nation’s bridge infrastructure demand innovative approaches to analysis of data and prediction of future bridge conditions. Several Bridge Management systems (BMS) have come into existence following the ISTEA act of 1991. The policy analysis module of BMS systems developed is restricted to analytical methods. With the availability of modern infrastructure, realistic simulation models are being developed in several fields. This leads to the question of whether reasonably realistic and practical discrete event simulation (DES) based policy analysis tools can be developed? A DES model was developed for the Salem district of Virginia using a simulation language, STROBOSCOPE. This simulation model can be used to simulate the bridge network behavior under different policies and observe the impact on the health of the network making it a useful tool for decision-making. The tool enables the formulation and testing of different bridge maintenance policies.