Published works

In the funded first stage, the project aimed to develop vulnerability models for critical road structures: bridges, culverts and floodways under natural hazards of flood, bush fire and earthquakes. In the second stage of the project, optimized maintenance and strengthening regimes required to enhance resilience of critical road structures will be identified and a decision making tool will be developed.

During the past year, the research focused on analysis of the case studies available from end user partners and development of the methodology for vulnerability modeling of bridges and floodways under natural hazards of flood, earthquake and bushfires. Three case studies were analysed to further establish the methodology and a reliability based approach was established to account for the variability of the frequency and the intensity of disasters. A field study was undertaken to understand the economic impact due to failure of road structures during the 2011 and 2013 floods in the Lockyer Valley region in Queensland.

Three major workshops and a number of informal meetings were held during the past year with excellent participation of end users and researchers. A workshop has also been organized on 24 July 2017 to plan the work program for the second stage of the project and develop the utilization plan.

Six Ph.D candidates are progressing their research funded by APA, RMIT and IPRS scholarships. Three of the students secured CRC top up scholarships as well. One Master by research student completed in 2016 and one PhD will complete in 2017.  Each of the four strands of the project has recruited a researcher to engage in the project and also utilized final year undergraduate projects to contribute to the research project.

Major outcomes during the past year can be summarized as development of the vulnerability modeling methodology for critical road structures exposed to extreme events and demonstration of the methodology using four case studies. This work has been published in number of journal papers and conferences and posters published in highly regarded journals and conferences. Members of the team also has been successful in winning awards for their work.