Policy Analysis and Optimization for Infrastructure Renewal

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In the past five years, the applicant's research activities in construction and asset management have resulted in significant contributions to the field as shown by: (1) a large number of refereed publications with students and co-workers; (2) two patents; (3) graduation of 8 Ph.D. and 7 Master's students; and (4) extensive technology transfer to industry through private consultation, workshops, and computer programs for use by educators and professionals. The research proposed for the next five years is a continuation of the applicant's work and aims to introduce new advancements with respect to the economics of infrastructure renewal at both the strategic and the operational levels. The research will seek innovations in four main areas: (1) Developing a simulation model to examine the long-term influences of policies (e.g., budget levels, Public Private Partnerships, and performance requirements) on backlog accumulation, performance, and sustainability; (2) Developing a framework for multi-year life cycle optimization to maximize the value gained from the limited renewal dollars; (3) Developing new microeconomic-based techniques to test the quality of fund-allocation decisions and establish a visual what-if analysis approach to quantify the impact of changes on the economics of the infrastructure; and (4) Developing an advanced scheduling and project control model to support effective execution of renewal programs considering deadlines and budget constraints. The direct outcome of the research is a generic infrastructure asset management framework with a computerized prototype that suits healthcare facilities and can be adapted to other infrastructure assets. The integration of strategic and operational dimensions is unique in this research and will support decisions of which, when, and how to renew facilities to maximize the return on renewal spending. The proposed fundamental research supports developing better infrastructure management policies and implementation tools, thus ultimately leading to backlog reduction, improved sustainability, and higher competitive advantage of Canadian infrastructure management companies.