Optimal Location of Strong Ground Motion Sensors for Seismic Emergency Management

In the aftermath of an emergency, the state of the transportation network should be evaluated, and necessary emergency actions should be taken immediately by the manager/owner of the structure. This study is dedicated to the development of a methodology for the identification of the optimal ground motion sensors' layout for seismic emergency management purposes. The information acquired through the strong ground motion network installed in the proximity of the infrastructure can greatly improve the decision-making process by allowing for improved estimation of the demand posed by the earthquake and thereby of the structural reliability after the seismic event. In this paper, we assess the optimum layout of the strong ground motion network based on the maximization of the value of information acquired through the recorded ground motions. A procedure is proposed to reduce the computational burden related to the modeling of the ground motion required for the computation of the Value of Information.