EAGER: Models of Gray and Green Infrastructure

这个探索性研究早期概念基金（EAGER）项目的目标是研究地震和其他事件后收集的数据，以创建一个模型来描述“灰色”（即建筑）和“绿色”（即景观系统）的整体行为。“民用基础设施”是一个描述社会工程基础的术语，如供水、电力输送和道路。有时它被称为“灰色”基础设施，因为它往往是由混凝土和其他材料建造的。通常，工程师一次只分析基础设施的一部分。例如，大多数道路上的交通灯被设计成在有电的情况下工作。假定停电时间很短，因此不需要长期的备用计划。然而，近年来很明显，由道路和电力供应等基础设施组成的建筑系统的功能不是独立的，而是相互依存的。停电会影响道路，反之亦然：如果道路关闭，工作人员无法修复受损的电线。此外，最近发生的灾难，如2011年日本东北地震，表明在重大事件发生后，在检查基础设施时，包括树木和河流等绿色系统是很重要的。离家更近的地方，美国城市的排水系统既包括管道等人造系统，也包括森林和其他景观等“绿色”系统。这项工作将大大扩展现有的数据库，检查案例研究，并使用数学方法，如投入产出模型和影响图，建立一个框架来描述整个基础设施的行为。研究结果将包括建立一个网站，用于数据收集和传播，发表有关研究的文章，并向学生和实习工程师做报告。充分运作的基础设施对社会的正常运作至关重要。这项研究是一项很好的投资，因为它为工程师和其他具有不同观点的人（如生物物理学家和社会科学家）之间的基础设施行为建模提供了一座桥梁。由于联合国已将缺乏适当的基础设施确定为一项全球性挑战，因此这项研究是及时的。这项研究将是对绿色系统的数据和模型进行编目的重要一步，绿色系统类似于灰色系统或以相同格式建造的系统。有了这些数据，研究界将能够更好地评估基础设施的性能，以应对地震和飓风等各种自然灾害。这项研究具有变革性，因为它将为基础设施的整体设计提供一种方法。拟议项目的结果将改变学术界和实践中基础设施系统设计过程的指导和实施。

The objective of this EArly-Concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER) project is to study data collected after earthquakes and other events to create a model to describe the behavior of the "gray", or built, and the "green", or landscape systems, as a whole. "Civil infrastructure" is a term that describes the engineering underpinnings of society such as water supply, power delivery and roadways. Sometimes it is called "gray" infrastructure because it tends to be built of concrete and other materials. Often, engineers analyze only one part of the infrastructure at a time. For example, most traffic lights on roadways are designed to work when power is available. Power outages are assumed to be brief enough that a long-term back-up plan is not required. However, it has become apparent in recent years that the functioning of built systems comprising the infrastructure such as roadways and power supply are not independent, but rather interdependent. Power outages affect roadways and vice-versa: If roadways are closed, crews cannot fix damaged power lines. Also, recent disasters such as the 2011 Tohoku earthquake in Japan indicate that it is important to include green systems such as trees and rivers in examining the infrastructure after major events. Closer to home, water systems for drainage in US cities include both built systems such as piping as well as "green" systems such as forests and other landscapes.This work will significantly expand existing databases, examine case studies and use mathematical methods such as input-output models and influence diagrams to build a framework for describing the behavior of the entire infrastructure. The results will include the creation of a website for data collection and dissemination, published articles on the research, and presentations to students and practicing engineers. A fully operating infrastructure is critical for the proper functioning of society. This research is a good investment because it provides a bridge between engineers and others with different perspectives, such as biophysical and social scientists, for the modeling of infrastructure behavior. Because the United Nations has identified the lack of appropriate infrastructure as a global challenge, this research is timely. This research will be a major step forward towards cataloging data on and models of the green systems that are analogous to the gray or built systems in the same format. With these data, the research community will be better able to assess the performance of the infrastructure for various natural hazards such as earthquakes and hurricanes. The research is transformative because it will produce an approach to infrastructure design as a whole. Results from the proposed project will transform the instruction and implementation of the infrastructure system design process in academia and in practice.