Modelling inspection policies for building maintenance.

Area of Science:

• Building maintenance and management
• Reliability engineering
• Risk assessment

Background:

• Traditional breakdown maintenance can lead to unexpected failures and higher costs.
• Inspection maintenance offers proactive defect identification but requires resource allocation.
• Optimizing inspection frequency is crucial for balancing costs and benefits.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel method for assessing inspection maintenance policies against existing breakdown maintenance strategies.
• To provide a framework for evaluating the economic viability of different inspection frequencies.
• To quantify potential cost savings and defect identification rates associated with inspection-based maintenance.

Main Methods:

• The developed method utilizes readily available building information and subjective assessments.
• It models the expected number of defects identified during inspections.
• Cost savings are estimated as a function of inspection frequency.

Main Results:

• The study presents defect identification and cost saving estimates.
• These estimates are shown to be dependent on the chosen inspection frequency.
• The method provides a quantitative basis for policy comparison.

Conclusions:

• The developed method offers a practical approach to selecting optimal building maintenance policies.
• Inspection maintenance can be more cost-effective than breakdown maintenance when optimized.
• Informed decisions on inspection frequency can significantly improve building management and reduce costs.