The development of a generalised framework for assessing bridge life-cycle performance and cost, with emphasis on analysis, prediction, optimisation and decision-making under uncertainty, is briefly addressed. The central issue underlying the importance of the life-cycle approach to bridge engineering is the need for a rational basis for making informed decisions regarding design, construction, inspection, monitoring, maintenance, repair, rehabilitation, replacement and management of bridges under uncertainty which is carried out by using multi-objective optimisation procedures that balance conflicting criteria such as performance and cost. A number of significant developments are summarised, including time-variant reliability, risk, resilience, and sustainability of bridges, bridge transportation networks and interdependent infrastructure systems. Furthermore, the effects of climate change on the probabilistic life-cycle performance assessment of highway bridges are addressed. Moreover, integration of SHM and updating in bridge management and probabilistic life-cycle optimisation considering multi-attribute utility and risk attitudes are presented.

Climate change and an increase in the number of hazards and/or their intensities may increase the probability of failure associated with civil infrastructure systems. Understanding how natural hazards affect the life-cycle performance of highway bridges can lead to improved preparedness prior to extreme disasters and can ultimately benefit society. In this paper, a framework for time-variant loss and resilience assessment of highway bridges under time-dependent multiple hazards is presented. The effects of earthquakes and floods on bridges are both investigated. The life-cycle hazard losses with and without aging effects and climate change are computed. Additionally, the probabilistic changes in the hazard intensity and frequency resulting from climate change on the total life-cycle hazard loss are also investigated. The proposed framework is applied to a highway bridge located in California.