
Fundamentals of Infrastructure Management
Donald Coffelt, Carnegie Mellon University
Chris Hendrickson, Carnegie Mellon University
Copyright Year: 2017
Last Update: 2019
Publisher: Donald Coffelt and Chris Hendrickson
Language: English
Formats Available
Conditions of Use
Attribution-ShareAlike
CC BY-SA
Reviews
This book does a great job covering different practical and theoretical topics including asset management, analytical tools and informed decision-making methods. Topics and strategies covered are applicable to different infrastructure systems such... read more
This book does a great job covering different practical and theoretical topics including asset management, analytical tools and informed decision-making methods. Topics and strategies covered are applicable to different infrastructure systems such as buildings and facilities, transportation, water system, and the power grid system. This is very important and useful because infrastructure systems are interconnected and managers should have good understanding of how they are related and know about different types of systems. Everything is written in an easy to understand language and each chapter includes exercises, which are very useful especially for a textbook. They are very well thought out and help both instructors and students better understand the material covered and test their knowledge. Furthermore, issues related to management of each infrastructure system are included towards the end of each chapter, which is helpful to both practitioners and researchers. Each system included is very complex and evolving (e.g., the power system) and its management strategies are also complicated and extensive. As a result topics (e.g., demand response) are left out and the book tries to cover a comprehensive list of topics rather than diving into detailed management of each system because each could be a book by itself.
The content of each chapter is accurate and I did not find any inaccuracy in the text, images, or equations to the best of my knowledge.
All topics and material included are very relevant to Infrastructure Management. Current concerns of our time such as performance, efficiency, sustainability, and resiliency are considered. Strategies and methods to manage each infrastructure system is discussed in relevance to these objectives. These emerging strategies ensure up-to-date management of infrastructure system, which is evolving.
The authors make each of the topics very clear and accessible, even for students.
The text is consistent throughout in terms of terminology and framework.
This book is modular and very easy to separate into sections and instructors or students could focus on topics relevant to their area. Almost every part of the book could be read separately, Hence the modularity is excellent. This also supports openstax cnx.
This book is very well organized and has a clear logical flow. After introductine Infrastructure Management, it covers general infrastructure management methods and strategies in the first 10 chapters and then it goes over each specific infrastructure system.
The interface is very easy to navigate. Each chapter and section is clickable and text is searchable.
No grammatical errors found.
This book covers some data about other countries but it could probably have more of a global perspective and it would be helpful to supplement with information about how this topic is applicable to other countries.
This book is a great resource. It is a very well written and organized book. It is a great resource for both instructors and students who are interested in Infrastructure Management. Infrastructure Management is an important topic that should be considered in more schools. Today, designing sustainable and resilient infrastructure is not sufficient if the system is not operated and managed with the same decision objectives and criteria as it was designed. Instructors should take advantage of this freely available book, educate students about Infrastructure Management and use it as textbook for their courses.
Table of Contents
- Chapter 1: Introduction to Infrastructure
- Chapter 2: Asset Management Process
- Chapter 3: Inventory, Inspection and Condition Assessment
- Chapter 4: Deterioration Modeling
- Chapter 5: Optimization and Decision Making
- Chapter 6: Performance, Usage, Budget and Cost Functions
- Chapter 7: Interdependence, Resiliency and Security
- Chapter 8: Contract and Workflow Management
- Chapter 9: Commissioning New Facilities
- Chapter 10: Benchmarking and Best Practices
- Chapter 11: Roadway Infrastructure
- Chapter 12: Building Infrastructure
- Chapter 13: Water Infrastructure
- Chapter 14: Telecommunications Infrastructure
- Chapter 15: Electricity Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution Infrastructure
- Chapter 16: Bases, Campuses, Parks and Port Infrastructure
About the Book
The authors believe this free of charge book, Fundamentals of Infrastructure Management, will expand the impact of the material and help improve the practice of infrastructure management. By ‘free of charge,' we mean that the material can be freely obtained, but readers should devote time and effort to mastering the material. We have provided problem assignments for various chapters, and we strongly urge readers to undertake the problems as a learning experience.
This book grew out of a decade of co-teaching a course entitled ‘Infrastructure Management' at Carnegie Mellon University. Our teaching philosophy was to prepare students for work in the field of infrastructure management. We believe that infrastructure management is a professional endeavor and an attractive professional career. The book is co-authored by two accomplished engineers - each representing professional practice, academic research and theoretical evaluation. Their collective strengths are presented throughout the text and serve to support both the practice of infrastructure management and a role for infrastructure management inquiry and search. Importantly, both co-authors have academic research interests (and a number of research publications) on various topics of infrastructure management. That said, the primary audience for this book is expected to be professionals intending to practice infrastructure management, and only secondarily individuals who intend to pursue a career of research in the area.
The text draws examples and discusses a wide variety of infrastructure systems, including roadways, telecommunications, power generation, buildings and systems of infrastructure. We have found that some common fundamentals of asset management, analysis tools and informed decision-making are useful for a variety of such systems. Certainly, many infrastructure managers encounter a variety of infrastructure types during their professional careers. Moreover, due to the functional inter-dependencies of different infrastructure systems, it is certainly advantageous for managers of one infrastructure type to understand other types of infrastructure. For example, roadway managers rely upon the power grid for traffic signal operation.
About the Contributors
Authors
Donald Coffelt serves as the Associate Vice President for Facilities Management and Campus Services at Carnegie Mellon University. His 350-member team provides facility services, infrastructure management, utility operations and auxiliary services required to support the university’s 150-acre Pittsburgh campus. Reporting to the Vice President for Operations, Coffelt is also responsible for coordinating university-wide sustainability practices.
Coffelt holds a concurrent appointment as an Adjunct Professor in Carnegie Mellon’s top ranked Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering with an expertise in Infrastructure Management. He passionately promotes student and faculty access to university facilities for education and research – “The University as a Lab".
From 1995 to 2003, Coffelt was an executive for a Pittsburgh area facility services and technology firm with nation-wide program management responsibilities. From 1985 through 2013, he served in a variety of leadership assignments across the United States as an officer in the U.S. Coast Guard before completing a 28-year career at the rank of Captain in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve.
In addition to his doctorate from Carnegie Mellon University, Coffelt is a graduate of the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, CT and the University of Illinois. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers and licensed as a professional engineer in Alaska, and Pennsylvania. His published works include a graduate-level textbook, Fundamentals of Infrastructure Management. Active in community service, Dr. Coffelt also serves several boards including the Andrew Carnegie Society.
Chris Hendrickson is the Hamerschlag University Professor Emeritus, Director of the Traffic 21 Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, member of the National Academy of Engineering and Editor-in-Chief of the ASCE Journal of Transportation Engineering. His research, teaching and consulting are in the general area of engineering planning and management, including design for the environment, system performance, construction project management, finance and computer applications.
Hendrickson pioneered models of dynamic traffic equilibrium, including time-of-day departure demand models. He was an early contributor to the development of probabilistic network analysis for lifeline planning after seismic events. His work in construction project management emphasized the importance of the owner's viewpoint throughout the project lifecycle. With others at Carnegie Mellon's Engineering Design Research Center, he developed a pioneering, experimental building design system in the early 1990s that spanned initial concept through construction scheduling and animation
Since 1994, he has concentrated on green design, exploring the environmental life cycle consequences of alternative product and process designs. He has contributed software tools and methods for sustainable construction, pollution prevention and environmental management, including life cycle analysis software and a widely cited analysis of the life cycle consequences of lead acid battery powered vehicles.