A stochastic framework to optimizing net benefits of a wood pole preventive maintenance program

The field of asset management, even for power components, is plagued with unavailability of sufficient data and uncertainties in asset life. In this paper, a framework is developed to optimize decisions on maintenance programs of utility wood pole populations even under uncertainty. It appropriately reduces the several tens of millions of dollars spent annually per medium-sized electric utility on inspections by identifying a subset of wood poles most vulnerable to failure. A probabilistic evaluation of failure proportions of wood poles by age under hurricane hazards is conducted as a convolution between the site-specific probability density function of the hazard and a developed time-dependent fragility assessment of the poles. The random variables affecting management costs are expressed as probability densities sampled using a Latin hypercube approach. A random search algorithm is then applied to stochastically minimize specified statistics of resulting scenarios of annual program costs. 2013 Taylor & Francis Group, London.

Safety, Reliability, Risk and Life-Cycle Performance of Structures and Infrastructures - Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Structural Safety and Reliability, ICOSSAR 2013

A stochastic framework to optimizing net benefits of a wood pole preventive maintenance program Conference Paper