Analysis of Maintenance Policies for Inductive Loop Detection Systems

Abstract

Maintaining inductive loop detection (ILD) systems in good conditions is a requirement for systems to perform the functions for which they are designed. The objective of this study was to evaluate the typical maintenance policies for ILD so that guidance regarding appropriate maintenance policies could be developed. To address the interaction between the maintenance activities and deterioration of the system components, a microscopic simulation model was developed. Three maintenance policies and two ILD systems with different system compositions were evaluated based on system performance measures such as system availability, costs, working load between crews, and the ratio between cost and availability. The relationships of these system performance measures were compared with maintenance crew size. The results indicated that the characteristics of deterioration and the composition of system components play a major role in determining optimal maintenance policies. The simulation results implied that different maintenance policies should be adopted for the two ILD systems for which different system compositions were simulated in this study.