Resilience Metrics in Bridges

Abstract

Resilience in the face of disasters is a critical capability of communities, and a key requirement for sustainable development. Community resilience is by large determined by the resilience of its infrastructure. Bridges are key components of the transportation infrastructure, and therefore their functionality at a certain level in the aftermath of disasters is essential. To predict this functionality level is crucial for design, asset management and overall community response both before and after a potential disaster, and this prediction is achieved by a resilience analysis. Consequently, metrics used for quantification of resilience become important decision variables for policy-making, and the use of appropriate metrics can have a large-scale effect. The paper aims to analyse some of the most popular resilience metrics for bridges, highlight their potential and challenges, and provide a discussion for further enhancements.