Knowledge-Based Condition Survey Inspection Concepts

Abstract

The U.S. Army’s Engineer Research and Development Center—Construction Engineering Research Laboratory has developed a “knowledge-based” approach to planning and conducting routine facility inspections. Rather than simply recording deficiencies on a calendar-based schedule this new approach uses knowledge of facilities to develop and execute a tailored inspection plan for individually defined facility “management units.” This knowledge includes measurable attributes such as facility importance, management unit importance, condition (past, present, and predicted future), desired condition thresholds, and expected asset remaining life. Also, recognizing that there are several inspection objectives to be met at different times in a management unit life cycle, different levels of inspections may be used at different times to attain those objectives. The “knowledge-based condition survey inspection (KBCSI)” approach marries all of these elements together to develop inspection plans for a vast array of facility components. The result is more meaningful facility inspection information with less inspection effort compared to traditional calendar-based inspection approaches. This paper discusses the KBCSI approach as applied to building component life cycle management.