The purpose of a bridge maintenance strategy is to make effective decisions by evaluating current performance and predicting future conditions of the bridge. The social cost because of the rapid increase in the number of decrepit bridges. The current bridge maintenance system relies on traditional man-power-based methods, which determine the bridge performance by employing a material deterioration model, and thus shows uncertainty in predicting the bridge performance. In this study, a new type of performance degradation model is developed using the actual concrete deck condition index (or grade) data of the general bridge inspection history database (1995–2017) on the national road bridge of the bridge management system in Korea. The developed model uses the long short-term memory algorithm, which is a type of recurrent neural network, as well as layer normalization and label smoothing to improve the applicability of basic data. This model can express the discrete historical degradation indices in continuous form according to the service life. In addition, it enables the prediction of bridge performance by using only basic information about new and existing bridges.

A deterioration model plays an important role to predict the valid total maintenance cost for sustainable maintenance of bridges. In the current state-of-the-art, the deterioration model has regression parameters as a probabilistic process by an initially determined mean and standard deviation, called an existing model. However, the existing model has difficulty to predict maintenance costs accurately, because it cannot reflect an information based on structural damage at an operational stage. In this research, updating the probabilistic deterioration model is presented for the prediction of pre-stressed concrete I-type (PSCI) girder bridges using a particle filtering technique which is an advanced Bayesian updating method based on big data analysis. The method enables predicting maintenance cost fitted in the current structural status, which includes the recent information by inspection with bridge-monitoring. The method is adapted in the Mokdo Bridge which is currently being used for evaluating the efficiency of maintenance cost by effects on updated probabilistic values with two different scenarios. As the result, it is shown that the proposed method is effective in predicting maintenance costs.

In South Korea, various attempts have been made to utilize the Pavement Management System database (PMS DB) more efficiently as a basis for preventive maintenance. Data for the PMS DB is extensively collected every year. This study aims to predict future pavement conditions by introducing the concept of machine learning instead of regression modeling. We selected 469 sections that satisfied the analysis conditions and used them for analysis. We used particle filtering, a machine learning technique, to predict future pavement conditions. We found that the function of the particle filtering technique itself increases the prediction accuracy for the target section analyzed as the number of particles increases. Furthermore, the number of time series points in one section had a higher impact on the improvement of prediction accuracy than the number of sections analyzed. Finally, the relative error by each predicted age for the same section decreased as the number of time series points increased. These findings indicate that the rate of decrease in the performance index can be quantitatively presented in the future, and the method developed in this study could be used by pavement managers during the decision-making process.

This study presents a machine learning model for predicting representative surface distresses (crack, durability, patching, joint spall) in concrete pavements, focusing on South Korean examples. It thoroughly analyzes specific distress types using time series data to understand their development over time, aiming to surpass traditional regression methods in forecasting pavement conditions. The research fills a gap by applying machine learning algorithms to detailed long-term data, enhancing the accuracy of distress progression predictions, which is crucial for efficient pavement management. A notable aspect of this study is the use of particle filtering, recognized for its effective resampling in analyzing time series data. To validate predictions, we compared the results from particle filtering with those from traditional regression models, long short-term memory (LSTM) networks, and Deep Neural Networks (DNNs). The accuracy varied significantly, with differences ranging from 3.32% to 23.64%, indicating particle filtering’s suitability for time-series-based pavement condition predictions. These findings are especially relevant in the context of current image-based machine learning and AI research in pavement distress detection and prediction. This research offers a comprehensive reference that is especially valuable due to the lack of studies using long-term usage data, thereby making a significant contribution to pavement management research and practice.

For the last ten years, the number of cases of large‐scale fires which occur on bridges, tunnels, and underpasses has increased. Such fires cause primary and secondary damage, including loss of human life, traffic congestion, and extensive financial damage. Therefore, a risk grade model and effective response plan need to be established for such cases in order to minimize the social and economic costs of bridge fires. In this study, the hazard factors contributing to bridge fires were selected to apply a risk grade model. A total of 144 bridge fire simulations were performed to calculate a surface temperature based on time by using Fire Dynamics Simulation (FDS). A risk grade in accordance with the degree of surface damage state caused by temperature of bridges was presented, and the mobilization time criteria for fire suppression were proposed. The surface temperatures based on time can be classified according to the vertical clearance and mobilization time criteria for fire suppression. Through the classified maximum surface temperatures based on time for bridges, the risk grade can be estimated according to the degree of surface damage state caused by temperature. In order to evaluate the applicability of the established risk grade model to the actual bridge, the arrival time taken from the bridge to the fire station was calculated through a Geographic Information System (GIS) network analysis, and the grades for actual bridge cases were assessed. The purpose of this bridge fire risk grade model is to establish a disaster prevention strategy based on risk grades and to minimize the subsequent social damage by determining a priori the disaster scale.

South Korea is implementing various policies to address the aging of infrastructures and improve road infrastructure management. Moreover, numerous research projects aiming at the development of necessary technologies for the proper implementation of these policies are underway. This study specifically aims to overcome existing problems in bridge pavement maintenance, such as the inaccuracy of future condition predictions and the selection of incorrect evaluation indicators. Our goal is to provide a new approach for the improved management of the bridge pavement management system (BPMS). To address the issues of accuracy in future condition prediction and evaluation indicator selection within the existing maintenance system, we utilized particle filtering, a Kalman filter method among machine learning techniques. This method allows for the prediction of future conditions, based on the nonlinearly collected bridge pavement conditions within BPMS. Furthermore, we proposed a systematic bridge pavement management strategy. This strategy utilizes traffic volume (ESALs; equivalent single axle loadings), a factor that can influence the future condition of bridge pavement, in correlation with the future condition predicted through particle filtering within BPMS.