Optimal Resilience- and Cost-Based Postdisaster Intervention Prioritization for Bridges along a Highway Segment

Abstract

In this paper, a general framework for the optimal resilience- and cost-based prioritization of interventions on bridges distributed along a highway connection between two cities that have experienced a disruptive natural or man-made event is proposed. Given the structural damage levels after the extreme event and the bridge characteristics, the proposed computational procedure finds the best intervention schedules, defined as starting time and progress pace of the restoration. The possible intervention schedules are considered optimal when they maximize the resilience of the highway segment and minimize the total cost of interventions. Because the two objectives are conflicting, the procedure uses genetic algorithms (GAs) to automatically generate a Pareto front of optimal solutions. Numerical examples are presented and discussed.