Data Mining of Bridge Concrete Deck Parameters in the National Bridge Inventory by Two-Step Cluster Analysis
Published In
ASCE-ASME Journal of Risk and Uncertainty in Engineering Systems, Part A: Civil Engineering
Document Type
Citation
Publication Date
6-1-2017
Abstract
Data mining is a discovery procedure to explore and visualize useful but less-than-obvious information or patterns in large collections of data. Given the amount and varying parameter types in a large data set such as that of the National Bridge Inventory (NBI), using traditional clustering techniques for discovery is impractical. As a consequence, the authors have applied a novel data discovery tool, called Two-step cluster analysis, to visualize associations between concrete bridge deck design parameters and bridge deck condition ratings. Two-step cluster analysis is a powerful knowledge discovery tool that can handle categorical and interval data simultaneously and is capable of reducing dimensions for large data sets. The analysis, of a total of 9,809 concrete highway bridge decks in the Northeast climatic region, found that bridges with cast-in-place decks that have a bituminous wearing surface, a preformed fabric membrane, and epoxy-coated reinforcement protection are strongly associated with the high condition ratings for bridge decks regardless of the average daily truck traffic (ADTT). Conversely, results show that bridges with cast-in-place bridge decks that have a bituminous wearing surface but have neither a deck membrane nor deck reinforcement protection are strongly associated with low condition ratings for bridge decks regardless of the ADTT. It was concluded that Two-step cluster analysis is a useful tool for bridge owners and agencies to visualize general trends in their concrete bridge deck condition data and to support them in their decision-making processes to effectively allocate limited funds for maintenance, repair, and design of bridge decks.
Locate the Document
DOI
10.1061/AJRUA6.0000889
Persistent Identifier
http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/21089
Publisher
ASCE
Citation Details
Radovic, M., Ghonima, O., & Schumacher, T. (2016). Data Mining of Bridge Concrete Deck Parameters in the National Bridge Inventory by Two-Step Cluster Analysis. ASCE-ASME Journal of Risk and Uncertainty in Engineering Systems, Part A: Civil Engineering, 3(2), F4016004.