DEVELOPMENT OF EARTHQUAKE RESILIENT LIFELINES

世界各地的大城市正在经历快速的城市化，人口和基础设施都以前所未有的速度增长。这些城市依赖于各种公共交通服务(公交车、火车、渡轮、桥梁和隧道)、服务中心(医院、消防厅和警察局)、通信网络(电缆和电话线)和公用事业服务(供水、下水道、电力和燃油线路)。这些重要的基础设施通常被称为生命线。一旦发生大地震，生命线的中断将阻碍城市的运转能力。企业停工和长时间的复苏将导致重大的经济损失，并最终破坏城市化。2011年，新西兰克赖斯特彻奇地震摧毁了中央商务区(CBD)，造成200亿美元的经济损失，整个CBD被迫关闭28个月。这种长期的中断严重影响了该市的恢复能力，并导致了大量移民。新西兰的地震脆弱性与环太平洋地区的许多城市非常相似，包括温哥华大都会。地质证据显示，该地区可能发生9级或更大规模的地震。为下一次重大但不可避免的地震做好准备必须是这座城市的首要任务。在过去的6年里，申请人带领他的研究团队开发了先进的模拟工具来量化关键基础设施的地震易损性，并开发了新的结构部件来改善结构在强烈地震震动中的性能。拟议的研究计划旨在扩大知识，为整个城市的生命线制定一个强有力的计划。该计划的长期目标是确保生命线在地震的摇晃和恢复阶段持续发挥作用。该计划将通过以温哥华市为示范城市的以下四个研究领域来开发：a)开发有效和可靠的评估工具来确定关键生命线；b)开发先进的实验方法来检查关键生命线的地震行为；c)开发先进的数值方法来模拟关键生命线的地震响应；d)开发和实施具有弹性的生命线。研究完成后，将建立一支高素质的工程人员团队，能够使用最先进的工程技术来评估和改造现有的生命线。该团队将成为开发和实施先进结构工程技术的下一代领导者，以设计和保护加拿大的基础设施。

Major cities worldwide are experiencing a rapid urbanization where both population and infrastructure are growing at an unprecedented rate. These cities rely on various public transportation services (buses, trains, ferries, bridges, and tunnels), service centers (hospitals, fire halls, and police stations), communication networks (cables and telephone lines), and utility services (water, sewer, electric, and fuel lines). These vital infrastructures are commonly known as lifelines. In the event of a major earthquake, lifeline failure will impede the city’s ability to function. Business downtime and prolonged recovery will lead to significant financial losses and eventually break down the urbanization. In 2011, the Christchurch earthquake in New Zealand destroyed the central business district (CBD) which resulted in $20 billion USD financial losses and forced the entire CBD shut down for 28 months. This prolonged disruption significantly affected the city’s ability to recover and led to massive emigration. The seismic vulnerability in New Zealand is very similar to many urban cities around the Pacific Rim, including Metro Vancouver. Geological evidence shows that magnitude 9 or greater earthquakes are likely to happen in this region. Preparing for the next significant yet unavoidable earthquake must be the highest priority for the city. In the past 6 years, the applicant has led his research team in developing advanced simulation tools to quantify seismic vulnerability of critical infrastructures and developing novel structural components to improve structural performance during strong earthquake shaking. The proposed research program aims to expand the knowledge to develop a robust program for an entire city’s lifelines. The long-term goal of the program is to ensure continuous function of lifelines during the shaking and recovery phases of earthquakes. The program will be developed through the following four research areas using the City of Vancouver as the model city: A) Develop efficient and reliable assessment tools to identify critical lifelines; B) Develop advanced experimental methods to examine the seismic behaviour of critical lifelines; C) Develop advanced numerical methods to simulate the seismic responses of critical lifelines; D) Develop and implement resilient lifelines. Upon completion of the research, a team of highly-qualified engineering personnel with the ability to use the state-of-the-art engineering technologies to evaluate and retrofit existing lifelines will be created. The team will be the next generation leader in the development and implementation of advanced structural engineering technologies to design and safeguard the Canadian infrastructures.