Resilient Northern Civil Infrastructure: Geohazard Effects within a Changing Climate

气候变化影响了加拿大北方地区，观测到的永久冻土融化导致基础设施恶化和景观变化。依赖历史气候记录和目前的工程框架将很可能导致北方民用基础设施（如道路、桥梁、涵洞）的暴露和脆弱性增加。这可能会影响资产性能，导致经济损失，并可能影响资产完整性，导致人身伤害或生命损失。例如，育空地区无冻土地区公路养护的平均年成本为4，000美元/公里，相比之下，受冻土退化影响的Destruction Bay和美国边境之间200公里公路段的养护成本为30，000美元/公里（每年600万美元）。该研究计划的长期目标是推进线性民用基础设施系统（例如道路，桥梁，涵洞）的性能评估工程实践，重点是在气候变化的背景下北方社区的地质灾害。为了实现这一愿景，补充性短期目标将通过推进新工具来解决当前工程实践中的差距和缺陷，这些新工具可以（1）识别、监测和描述地质灾害（例如，面积范围、地面移动速率），（2）监测和估计基础设施的当前状态或状况（例如过度偏转、裂缝或剥落），以及（3）预测未来基础设施性能（例如随时间推移的解冻沉降幅度）并评估适应性实践（例如改变路堤设计实践）。** 研究成果将为在设计、管理和适应弹性基础设施方面制定前瞻性工程最佳实践奠定技术基础，这些基础设施可以在更知情的决策框架内有效应对地质灾害。

Climate change has impacted Canada's northern regions with observed permafrost thaw resulting in infrastructure deterioration and landscape transformations. Reliance on the historical climate record and current engineering framework will most likely lead to increased exposure and vulnerability of northern civil infrastructure (e.g. roads, bridges, culverts). This may impact asset performance resulting in economic losses, and may impact asset integrity that could cause personal injury or loss of life. For example, the average annual cost of highway maintenance in permafrost free regions of the Yukon is $4,000/km, which, in contrast, is $30,000/km ($6 million per year) for a 200 km segment of highway between Destruction Bay and the U.S. border affected by permafrost degradation.******The long-term goal of this research program is the advancement of engineering practice for the performance assessment of linear civil infrastructure systems (e.g. roads, bridges, culverts) subject to geohazards with an emphasis on northern communities in context of a changing climate. To achieve this vision, complementary short-term objectives will address current gaps and deficiencies in current engineering practice by advancing new tools that can (1) identify, monitor and characterize geohazards (e.g. areal extent, rate of ground movement), (2) monitor and estimate the current state or condition of the infrastructure (e.g. excessive deflection, cracks, or spalls), and (3) predict future infrastructure performance (e.g. magnitude of thaw settlement over time) and evaluate adaptation practices (e.g. changing embankment design practices). ******The research outcomes will establish a technical basis to develop forward looking engineering best practices in design, management and adaptation of resilient infrastructure that can effectively address geohazards within a more informed decision-making framework.