Sewerage infrastructure: Fuzzy techniques to manage failures

An approach is presented to model the deterioration of buried, infrequently inspected infrastructure, using scarce data. The robustness of the process is combined with the flexibility of fuzzy mathematics to arrive at a decision framework that is tractable and realistic. In applying this approach to sewerage infrastructure, the scoring scheme was converted using Current guidelines. A rule-based model is used to replicate and predict the possibility of failure. The model can be used to plan the renewal of the asset subject to maximum risk tolerance. The concepts are demonstrated using data obtained from Canadian municipalities.