Value of information: impact of monitoring on decision-making

Structural health monitoring (SHM) is a process aimed at providing accurate and in-time information concerning structural health condition and performance, which can serve as an objective basis for decision-making regarding operation, maintenance, and repair. However, at the current state of practice, SHM is less used on real structures, and one reason for this is the lack of understanding of the Value of Information obtained from SHM. Consequently, even when SHM is implemented, bridge managers often make decisions based on experience or common sense, frequently considering with reserve and sometimes disregarding the suggestions arising from SHM. Managers weigh the SHM results based on their prior perception of the state of the structure and the confidence that they have in the specific applied SHM system and then make decisions considering the perceived effects of the actions they can undertake. In order to address and overcome the aforementioned identified limitations in the use of the SHM, a rational framework for assessment of the impact of the SHM on decision-making is researched and proposed in this paper. The framework is based on the concept of Value of Information and demonstrated on the case study of the Streicker Bridge, a new pedestrian bridge on Princeton University campus. Copyright (c) 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.