After successful completion of the course, students are able to...

• Assess the requirements and importance of road maintenance and infrastructure management
• Distinguish the most important terms and building blocks
• Understand and apply the essential methodological principles
• To make an economic comparison of life cycle investments
• To correctly assess the practical requirements in construction companies, administration and engineering offices
• Get an overview of the latest research on digitization and optimization with implementation

The lecture serves as an introduction to theory and practice and is held blocked in a week. The particular importance of economy and sustainability results from the imparting of a holistic view of all systems in the life cycle and the imparting of the necessary skills and technical aspects as a common thread throughout the lecture.

The lecture notes provide the following content:

1. Introduction: Introduction, boundary conditions and trends, overview and terms, task and goals, levels and asset management life cycle, PMS and asset management,
2. Road condition survey and condition forecast: loading structure and failure mechanisms, damage catalogue and survey kits, condition features and condition assessment, models of deterministic and stochastic condition forecast
3. Planning of measures: catalogue of measures, maintenance, repair and maintenance strategies, planning of requirements and construction program, quality assurance
4. Economic assessment with financial principles, lifecycle costs operator, users, third parties/environment, with critical considerations regarding profitability
5. Methods of investment analysis: selected strategy models, model simulations and presentation of results, the example of rural/municipal road construction, an example of high-ranking road construction, practical examples of asset management

Providing knowledge on methods and their efficient application is the key:

• Provision of a comprehensive script and teaching materials
• Explanation and discussion of the framework conditions and methods
• Step-by-step application from inventory recording through evaluation and forecasting to optimization and implementation
• Presentation and discussion of case studies
• Joint development of application examples and calculations
• Instructions for successful professional practice

If, due to requirements of the Federal Government or the Vienna University of Technology, it is not possible to hold the course and the examination or the partial performance assessment in presence, the online format will be used. By changing to the online format, the dates announced for the face-to-face course and examination (partial performances) may change. When changing to the online format, the following methods and modes apply:

Method when changing to online format:

The lecture will be held via zoom in TUWEL. The exam will be held orally and online until further notice.

Exam mode when switching to online format:

The exams are held in the format "online oral exam" via ZOOM. The duration of the exam is 20 minutes. There are exact time slots allocated for you to sign up for.

Assessment scheme for the online exam:

The assessment and scoring remain unchanged.

Required technical equipment for participation in course and exam:

What do you need as a candidate: Notebook (no additional screen) + webcam, internet access, student ID. Telephone in case of technical problems.

The exam runs via TUWEL/Zoom. A link to the Zoom meeting will be sent to the candidates in time. Please enter about 10 min. before the exam starts. Prepare your workstation as follows: The following items are available on the workstation: Notebook+webcam, student ID. The notebook with webcam has to be placed a little bit away, so that most of the workplace and room is covered by the webcam. Please optimize the location and orientation of your webcam before the exam.

The webcam and microphone are activated during the entire exam. Please have your student ID ready to hold up to the webcam for identity verification.

The entire exam will be recorded. The examiner may ask you to share your screen or pan your webcam at any time to spot check for the use of unauthorized aids.

If you have any technical problems or concerns regarding your privacy, please inform the examiner immediately so that they can be dealt with accordingly.

Contact data examiner:

Priv.-Doz. Dipl.-Ing. Dr. techn. Markus Hoffmann
+43 1 9971255, +43 650 9730604 (mobile)
office@hoffmann-consult.at oder markus.hoffmann@tuwien.ac.at

Exam duration: approx. 20 minutes

Proof of performance is given continuously in the lecture through joint development and collaboration as well
a written exam (multiple choice + calculation example) and a short oral questionnaire to determine the final grade.

Selected papers

No essential basic knowledge is necessary for the lecture - however, the following are helpful:

• Knowledge of statistics and economy
• Basics of road and traffic planning
• Interest in life cycle costs
• Basic knowledge in MS Excel