Investigation of a management framework for condition assessment of concrete structures based on reusable knowledge and inspection

Abstract

Managing and reusing knowledge in engineering and construction sectors can lead to greater competitive advantage, improved designs, and more effective management of constructed facilities. The use of Information Technology (IT) in design and construction can exploit strategic opportunities for new ways of integration, sharing and facilitating information and knowledge in any field of engineering. The integrating of separate areas of IT can be used to bring a group of experts and specialists in any field of engineering closer together by allowing them to communicate and exchange information and expertise that facilitate knowledge capture, sharing, and reuse. A lack of an advisory management system and a need to marshal all available data in a common format has indicated the need for an integrated engineering computing environment to investigate concrete repair problems. The research described in this paper is based upon an evaluation management system (EMS) which comprising a database management system (REPCON) alongside visualisation technologies and evaluation system (ECON) is developed to produce an innovative platform which will facilitate and encourage the development of knowledge in educational, evolution and evaluation modes of concrete repair. This allows us to create assessment procedures that will allow the current condition of the concrete structure and its components to be expressed numerically using a confidence level (CL) so as to take the best course of action in the repair and maintenance management. The explained rating system, which is related to structural integrity and serviceability of the structure, allows the confidence level to be determined by visual inspection and the descriptive information and pictures taken from an available REPair of CONcrete (REPCON) database.