DEVELOPMENT OF EARTHQUAKE RESILIENT LIFELINES

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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.