A life cycle perspective for infrastructure management

Abstract

Circular Economy, founded on the self-generative economic system concept, can be traced back to the Life Cycle Thinking, that conceives the project as a process along its whole life cycle, at the different scales: material, component, system, building, urban district and territorial area, infrastructure. In Italy, as in the main part of European Countries, a great portion of infrastructures was built in reinforced concrete before 1960 and is approaching the end-of-life stage. Thus, aim of this article is to propose an operative modality for supporting the preventive maintenance investments planning in function of life cycle costs and benefits, assuming the presence of uncertainty over time. Firstly, a recalling of the Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) approach is presented. Secondly, the Life Cycle Cost Benefit Analysis (LCCBA) approach is proposed, as a tool for supporting long-term investments, management of public services and maintenance planning activities in the infrastructure sector. Thirdly, by integrating CBA and LCCBA, an operative modality is proposed. On the background, life cycle management, optimal maintenance planning and durability concepts are assumed.