An overabundance of evidence, both observational and from model projections, indicate that changes to the climate system are taking place at unprecedented rates. Although the magnitudes of these changes involve large uncertainties, the fact that our climate is changing is unequivocal. To ensure an unimpaired functionality of our societies,it is therefore of crucial importance to study the potential climate change impacts on infrastructure. Taking into account that bridges have a considerably long service life, it is of direct relevance to ascertain their reliable performance against climate change risks. This paper synthesizes the findings of over 190 research articles to identify the potential risks climate change may pose on bridges. Over 30 potential risks, supported by pertinent previous bridge damage (or failure) cases, are identified, categorized, and linked to the projected future climate changes. The identified risks can be used as a basis for future risk prioritization by bridge managers.
26 September 2019 in Structure and Infrastructure Engineering
Climate change may have multifaceted impacts on the safety and performance of infrastructure. Accounting for the different ways in which potential climate change scenarios can affect our infrastructure is paramount in determining appropriate adaptation and risk management strategies. Despite gaining some attention among researchers in recent years, this research area is still largely uninvestigated. Several studies have indicated bridges to be especially susceptible to the effects of climate change. This article presents the potential impacts of climate change on bridges and combines the findings of close to 70 research articles to construct a broad list of their possible adaptation techniques. Although this study focuses on bridges, many of the presented climate change impacts and their adaptations are of relevance also to other types of infrastructure.
1 May 2019 in Reliability Engineering & System Safety
The construction and usage of transport infrastructure are major causes of greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption. The effects of resource consumption and pollutant emissions are often quantified through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) models. All decisions made in infrastructure projects during the whole life cycle are afflicted by uncertainty, e.g. physical properties of materials or amount of pollutants emitted by certain processes. The pervasive role of uncertainty is reflected in LCA models, which therefore should consider uncertainty from various sources and provide a sound quantification of their effects. The aim of the work presented in this paper is to give an overview of different sources of uncertainty in LCA of infrastructure projects and to describe systematic methods to evaluate their influence on the results. The possibility of including uncertainty in a LCA-tool for infrastructure is presented, studying the sensitivity of the model output to the input parameters and two alternative approaches for propagation of uncertainty using two case studies. It is shown that, besides the influence of uncertainty in emission factors, other inputs such as material amounts and service life could contribute significantly to the variability of model output and has to be considered if reliable results are sought.