Performance Assessment of Bridges under Multiple Hazards

Large parts of the United States are exposed to the natural hazards of geological origin (e.g., earthquakes and tsunamis) or of hydrometeorological origin (e.g., hurricanes and floods). In recent decades, population growth and economic development in hazard-prone areas have highlighted the need for safe and sustainable civil infrastructure systems. Existing infrastructure components typically experience several extreme events and deterioration mechanisms during their service life. Investigation of buildings, bridges, and other infrastructure facilities damaged during the most recent natural disasters indicates that the majority of human, financial, and societal losses have occurred due to the combined effects of more than one extreme event. Since most of the current design codes and assessment guidelines have been traditionally based on single-hazard approaches, there is an urgent need to develop reliable multi-hazard design and assessment criteria that take into account the contribution of all the potential extreme events considering their simultaneous or cascading impacts.