Structural Reliability and Sustainable Resilience

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The goal of this research is to formulate the enhanced concept of community resilience by the incorporation of recent theoretical and computational capabilities from structural system reliability. The fundamental theory builds upon the integrity of a structure in terms of its role in the physical, social and economic well-being of the community it serves. This leads to an approach to structural design based on the inherent tradeoffs for societal investment in structures in terms of their sustainability for intended functions, and the consequent resilience of the community. Inherent in this concept is the sensitivity of the performance of structures to such issues as low probability, high consequence events, and even black swans. To accomplish this overarching goal, structural system reliability algorithms will be utilized to investigate the sensitivity of structures to multiple failure modes and compound load combinations, leading to an evaluation of their impact on overall integrity and functionality. This will form the basis for the relationship between resilience and life cycle evaluation, the building block of sustainability. Alternative measures of uncertainty will be incorporated into models of structure and community resilience as time-varying processes, enabling the development of efficient approaches to holistic infrastructure.This research will directly enhance the relationship between structural reliability and long-term sustainability, increasing the effectiveness of investments in the built environment, especially in a life cycle context. Potential consequences due to occupancy, environmental degradation, and both natural and intentional hazards ultimately impact community development decisions regarding growth patterns, land use restrictions, building codes and mitigation plans. The results of this research will lead to more robust, resilient and efficient built environments. New educational paradigms will also result, with interdisciplinary approaches to civil systems and hazards from both engineering and sociological perspectives. The project will also provide advanced training to graduate students on the topic of systems reliability, resilience and sustainability through their involvement in the project research activities.