Lifetime Resilience Measurement of River-Crossing Bridges with Scour Countermeasures under Multiple Hazards

Abstract

River-crossing bridges are often subject to multiple hazards, including foundation scour, seismic attacks, and environmental degradation. When river-crossing bridges are in service, they should be restored rapidly after any disruption over their lifetime. To achieve this resilient quality, it is necessary to assess the system resilience subjected to multihazard impacts and the beneficial effects of any retrofitting or hazard-countermeasure in a lifetime context. To river-crossing bridges, one important intervention is to implement scour countermeasures. This study presents a probabilistic framework to quantify the lifetime system resilience of river-crossing bridges subject to multiple hazards. Notably, the framework is designed to reveal how progressive and abrupt hazards interact and result in resilience degradation and how scour countermeasures contribute to resilience enhancement. Experimental outcomes reveal the positive and distinct effects of implementing scour countermeasures at different times. The proposed framework is expected to assist civil engineers in conducting lifecycle management of river-crossing bridges that are subject to hydraulic scour and demand timely countermeasures.