This study proposes a probabilistic model for interpreting bridge maintenance processes and predicting future conditions using more than 20 years of accumulated full safety inspection and examination data from Bridge A, located on a Motorway in Seoul....
This study proposes a probabilistic model for interpreting bridge maintenance processes and predicting future conditions using more than 20 years of accumulated full safety inspection and examination data from Bridge A, located on a Motorway in Seoul. As the aging of domestic infrastructure accelerates and the efficient allocation of maintenance resources becomes increasingly important, the demand for models capable of condition prediction and quantitative uncertainty assessment has grown. Conventional deterministic approaches, which analyze historical data based on a single trend, are limited in their ability to adequately reflect the uncertainty inherent in bridge condition change processes. In addition, existing bridge condition prediction models often oversimplify maintenance histories or focus on macroscopic indicators at the bridge or component level, limiting their capacity to capture actual damage behavior and complex maintenance records. To address these limitations, this study aims to establish a methodology that probabilistically predicts damage-level condition changes over time by converting damage and maintenance information from actual inspection histories into probabilistic models.
The study comprises 27 damage types across 8 major structural components of the target bridge. Probabilistic trends in condition changes were analyzed based on accumulated damage data for each component. Damage occurrence probability, time to initial damage occurrence, and condition transition probability were defined as random variables. A future condition probability distribution prediction framework was developed by integrating Markov Chain models with Monte Carlo simulations.
The simulation results were validated through comparison with observed inspection data. When RMSE smaller than the minimum unit of condition grade change ‘0.1’ were considered “meaningful predictions,” approximately 81.5% of the results satisfied this criterion. This indicates that the proposed model adequately predicts observed values and reproduces actual bridge condition change processes with high accuracy.
The outcomes of this study hold both academic significance and practical value. Academically, the study moves beyond conventional facility-level composite condition rating–based analyses and presents a new analytical framework that defines and quantitatively analyzes damage-level deterioration processes as probabilistic variables. In particular, by directly incorporating maintenance histories into the probabilistic model, both deterioration and condition recovery processes are simultaneously simulated, thereby enhancing the realism and explanatory power of the predictions.
From a practical perspective, the proposed model presents future conditions in the form of probability distributions rather than single deterministic values, enabling objective quantification of the uncertainty inherent in condition prediction. This provides practical decision-making support for determining maintenance timing and allocating budgets. Moreover, the model demonstrates high compatibility with domestic infrastructure safety management guidelines while maintaining an intuitive structure, allowing engineers to utilize existing inspection data directly without requiring high-performance analytical software.
In conclusion, this study establishes a core technical foundation for transforming conventional reactive bridge management practices into a data-driven, predictive maintenance paradigm. Future research should expand the proposed model into a multivariate analytical framework that incorporates various bridge types, traffic conditions, and external environmental factors such as extreme rainfall and freeze–thaw cycles associated with climate change. Furthermore, the model is expected to evolve into a hybrid prediction system by combining the statistical rigor of probabilistic models with the nonlinear pattern recognition capabilities of artificial intelligence. Such advanced models are anticipated to serve as a key technical foundation for data-driven, proactive, and predictive maintenance practices through integration with local and national bridge management systems.