Resilient Northern Civil Infrastructure: Geohazard Effects within a Changing Climate

气候变化影响了加拿大北部地区，观察到永久冻土融化，导致基础设施恶化和景观变化。对历史气候记录和当前工程框架的依赖很可能会导致北方民用基础设施(如道路、桥梁、涵洞)暴露在更大的风险中，并使其更加脆弱。这可能会影响资产表现，导致经济损失，并可能影响资产完整性，从而可能导致人身伤害或生命损失。例如，育空地区无冻土地区公路维护的年平均成本为4000美元/公里，相比之下，破坏湾和美国边境之间受多年冻土退化影响的200公里公路路段的维护成本为3万美元/公里(每年600万美元)。*该研究计划的长期目标是促进工程实践，评估受地质灾害影响的线性民用基础设施系统(如道路、桥梁、涵洞)的性能，重点放在气候变化背景下的北方社区。为了实现这一愿景，相辅相成的短期目标将解决当前工程实践中目前的差距和不足，方法是提出新的工具，这些工具可以(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条件(例如，过度变形、裂缝或剥落)，以及(3)预测未来基础设施的性能(例如，随着时间的推移融化沉降量)和评估适应实践(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的工程最佳做法奠定技术基础，这些最佳做法能够在更知情的决策框架内有效地应对地质灾害。

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.