Effects of structural deterioration and infrastructure upgrading on the life-cycle seismic resilience of bridge networks

The life-cycle seismic resilience of aging bridges and road transportation networks is investigated considering the long-term effects of bridge structural deterioration and network upgrading interventions under uncertainty. The proposed methodology is applied to a highway network with spatially distributed reinforced concrete (RC) bridges exposed to chloride-induced corrosion and different earthquake scenarios. A new road segment including a bridge is added over the lifetime to strengthen the network connectivity and improve the system resilience. The results show the detrimental effects of structural deterioration at the network scale and the benefits of infrastructure investments for network upgrading to enable long-term resilient infrastructures.