Integrated research program for safety and sustainability of new and ageing infrastructure subjected to multiple hazards

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The long-term objective of the proposed research program is to develop knowledge, technologies, and highly qualified personnel to foster optimal safety and sustainability of new and ageing civil infrastructure. Public safety - including economic security - depends strongly on civil infrastructure, such as bridges and buildings. In the proposed research, the probability of damage due to deterioration and dramatic loading events enter into total loss curves that are used in decision making. While traditional research has focused on individual structural members, this proposal builds upon recent progress in simulation of global structural performance. In a synergistic endeavor, the emerging BIM-technology in the building industry is utilized to generate sophisticated structural models, including damage to non-structural components. The communication is carried out by extending the Industry Foundation Classes; an ISO standard for interoperability in the building industry. By means of a novel unified reliability approach, these models are considered in conjunction with multiple hazards, including earthquakes and deterioration due to ageing. In one reliability analysis, a regional loss probability is obtained, with identification of critical infrastructure as a valuable by-product. An "adaptive fidelity" strategy is put forward to gradually refine the structural models by balancing computational cost and epistemic model uncertainty. In a coordinated effort, probabilistic models for structural performance are calibrated with a Bayesian methodology to explicitly identify the epistemic uncertainty. This work utilizes the extensive structural testing programs that have been undertaken worldwide in recent years. Towards the ultimate objective of allocating resources in a manner that balances cost, safety, and sustainability; existing utility metrics for sustainability are extended in the context of structural engineering. This is expected to affect traditional optimal designs, material selection, and re-usability of building components. Notably, the regional nature of the methodology facilitates the study of risk associated with densification of urban areas, which has recently been argued to be more sustainable than urban sprawl.