Exploring the Deterioration Factors of RC Bridge Decks: A Rough Set Approach

Information about the factors that lead to the deterioration of bridges is essential for bridge maintenance. Pinpointing what these factors are will certainly enhance the effectiveness of bridge management. However, a review of the literature reveals that such factors are mainly determined based on experts' opinions rather than a systematic approach. In this study the factors leading to deterioration of RC bridge decks are grouped into six common types. Twenty-nine candidate factors are selected from an extensive review of past work as well as from the inventory of the Taiwan Bridge Management System. A data mining technique, the Rough Set Theory (RST), is employed to find the factors that have the most significant impact on deterioration. It is found that weather-related factors are rather significant for almost all types of deterioration. Finally, the factors mined by RST are compared to those obtained by Mann-Whitney U (MWU). The results of comparison appear fairly consistent, which validates the proposed approach.