EBookClubs

Read Books & Download eBooks Full Online

EBookClubs

Read Books & Download eBooks Full Online

Book Multi hazard Resilience Assessment of River crossing Bridges

Download or read book Multi hazard Resilience Assessment of River crossing Bridges written by Mostafa Badroddin and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bridge structures are required to possess high reliability and robustness against the concurrent effect of extreme loads and environmental attacks. To achieve such interrelated goals, it is necessary to assess the system performance and resilience subjected to multi-hazard impacts and the beneficial effects of any retrofitting or hazard-countermeasure in a lifecycle context. The damaged bridge needs to be restored rapidly over its service life due to the significant economic losses and disruption to transportation networks. For river-crossing bridges, one of the essential hazard mitigation strategies is scour countermeasures. However, a quantitative understanding of the effects of SCs on bridge system resilience is not found. This dissertation presents a critical synthesis of the existing literature that provides relevant knowledge and a profound understanding of probabilistic multi-hazard assessment for bridge structures. Then, a finite element-based probabilistic framework is designed to assess the lifecycle resilience of reinforced concrete river-crossing bridges under seismic, flood-induced scour, and chloride-induced corrosion impacts, including the consideration of a typical scour countermeasure at variable service times. Based on the general performance-based approach, two probabilistic models are formulated, termed the mean-scour fragility analysis (MS-FA) model and the total-scour demand hazard analysis (TS-DHA) model, which produce straightforward functional curves and can be readily used to evaluate the seismic-scour multi-hazard effects. An integrated damage index is defined based on both local and system-level ductility demands to develop a demand hazard model and to estimate the damage-based residual functionality and recovery duration to quantify the lifecycle bridge resilience. Notably, the exceeding probability approach is designed to reveal how progressive and sudden hazards interact and result in resilience degradation and how scour countermeasures contribute to resilience enhancement. The outcomes of the numerical experiment reveal the positive and distinct effects of implementing SCs at different lifecycle intervals. More importantly, resilience time-series demonstrate arbitrary multi-modes and nonparametric patterns. Accordingly, a robust statistical distance-based approach is presented to determine the sequential evolution of time-varying multi-hazard resilience. The proposed framework would assist stakeholders and decision-makers in resilience patterns recognition, assessing the effectiveness of hazard mitigation strategies, and taking short- and long-term proactive intervention actions by specifying resilience thresholds.

Book Multi Hazard Assessment of Seismic and Scour Effects on Rural Bridges with Unknown Foundations

Download or read book Multi Hazard Assessment of Seismic and Scour Effects on Rural Bridges with Unknown Foundations written by ZhiQiang Chen and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This chapter proposes a probabilistic framework for assessing seismic and scour effects on existing river-crossing bridge structures. The emphasis is on bridge structures in rural areas, for which it has been recognized that a large number of rural bridges have unknown foundation types and further are subject to both flooding-induced scour and seismic damage. With a review of the US-based rural bridges, this chapter presents a probabilistic framework for bridge performance assessment. Using a representative rural bridge model, the fragility results for the bridge reveal that scour tends to be beneficial in reducing structural damage at slight to moderate seismic intensities and to be detrimental in increasing collapse potential at high-level intensities. The demand hazard curves further quantify probabilistically the occurrence of local damage and global collapse, and systematically reveal the complex effects of scour as a hydraulic hazard on bridge structures.

Book Seismic Vulnerability Analysis of Scoured Bridge Systems

Download or read book Seismic Vulnerability Analysis of Scoured Bridge Systems written by Xuan Guo and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bridges are a vital infrastructure component of the transportation networks in both rural and urban areas. Damaged or destroyed bridges can affect the reliability and resilience of transportation networks that are critical to human life, economical activities, and the social sustainability at large. Understanding how natural hazards affect the life-cycle performance of bridge systems will lead to improved preparedness prior to extreme disasters and benefit the society ultimately. Among many natural events, flood-induced foundation scour has been recognized as a leading cause of bridge failure in the United States. The distinct feature of flood-induced scour is that it may last during the rest of bridge's service life once it is formed around a bridge foundation. Intuitively, the threat may be potentially more severe if the permanent scour is combined with other hazards, such as earthquakes. However, the combined effects of such multiple hazards are not clearly understood to date. It is thus meaningful to investigate the effects of multi-hazard earthquake and scour on the seismic performance of river-crossing bridges. The general objective of this dissertation is to assess the seismic vulnerability of bridge structures considering flooding-induced scour in a general multi-hazard context. To meet this objective, five related research problems are defined in this dissertation. Correspondingly, scientific answers and technical solution frameworks are developed in this dissertation. The dissertation directly contributes to the multi-hazard assessment methodology with an emphasis in flood-induced scour and earthquake hazards. Specifically, the dissertation directly resolves the practical challenge of evaluating the effects of bridge scour on the seismic performance of river-crossing bridges in terms of theoretical frameworks, numerical procedures, and case study-based findings. Future research directions along the line of multi-hazard bridge performance research with an emphasis of hydro- and seismic-impacts are pointed at the end of the dissertation.

Book Multi Hazard Vulnerability and Resilience Building

Download or read book Multi Hazard Vulnerability and Resilience Building written by Indrajit Pal and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2023-03-21 with total page 414 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Multi-hazard Vulnerability and Resilience Building: Cross Cutting Issues presents multi-disciplinary issues facing disaster risk reduction and sustainable development, focusing on various dimensions of existing and future risk scenarios and highlighting concerted efforts of scientific communities to find new adaptation methods. Disaster risk reduction and resilience requires participation of a wide array of stakeholders, ranging from academicians to policy makers to disaster managers. The book offers evidence-based, problem-solving techniques from social, natural, engineering, and other perspectives, and connects data, research, and conceptual work with practical cases on disaster risk management to capture multi-sectoral aspects of disaster resilience, adaptation strategy, and sustainability. Provides foundational knowledge on integrated disaster vulnerability and resilience building Brings together disaster risk reduction and resilience scientists, policy-makers, and practitioners from different disciplines Includes case studies on disaster resilience and sustainable development from a multi-disciplinary perspective

Book Risk Assessment of Highway Bridges Under Multi hazard Effect of Flood induced Scour and Earthquake

Download or read book Risk Assessment of Highway Bridges Under Multi hazard Effect of Flood induced Scour and Earthquake written by Taner Yilmaz and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Natural disasters may have significant impact on the functionality of highway transportation systems resulting in unacceptable socio-economic losses. Flood and earthquake hazards can be considered as two most significant natural threats to safety of bridges. The overarching need for safety and serviceability of critical transportation infrastructure system requires highway bridges to be analyzed and designed not only for discrete hazard events, but also for possible multiple-hazard (or multi-hazard) conditions. For a highway network spanning over a seismically-active flood-prone region, the occurrence of earthquakes in the presence of flood-induced scour is a possible multi-hazard scenario for bridges in the network. The varied dynamic characteristics of a bridge due to the occurrence of scour may affect the response of the bridge under earthquake loading, and eventually may increase the risk of bridge failure.Despite the rising concern of research communities on this topic, the issues related to the multi-hazard effect of flood-induced scour and earthquake on highway bridges have not been satisfactorily answered. In addition, no guideline is currently available in design codes to ensure seismic safety of bridges with potentially scoured foundations. This dissertation aims to improve a comprehensive knowledge-base on risk and reliability analyses of highway bridges subjected to this multi-hazard by developing a multi-hazard risk assessment framework for bridges and quantifying variability in multi-hazard fragility and risk of bridges through a thorough uncertainty analysis. Outcome of this research provides research communities and government agencies a better understanding of the multi-hazard effect of flood-induced scour and earthquake on the risk and reliability of highway bridges. It also serves as a foundation for future researches on developing strategic plans for repair or retrofit prioritization for highway bridges under similar multi-hazard conditions.

Book Damage Diagnosis and Safety Assessment of Bridge Structures Under Multiple Hazards

Download or read book Damage Diagnosis and Safety Assessment of Bridge Structures Under Multiple Hazards written by Kai Wei and published by Mdpi AG. This book was released on 2023-12-27 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The states of bridge structures decline over time due to various degradation processes, such as creep, corrosion, and cyclic loading. During its life cycle, a bridge also faces the great threat of multiple hazards, such as winds, earthquakes, collisions, waves, landslides, and so on. Structural damages in an existing bridge affect operational and structural safety and weaken the sustainability of bridges. Therefore, advanced damage diagnosis techniques and safety assessment methods are strongly required to ensure structural safety and achieve infrastructure sustainability. This Special Issue aims to bring together recent scientific developments in probabilistic hazard analysis, structural exposure models, damage diagnosis methods, testing and measurement techniques, dynamic behavior and protection technology, damage mechanisms, risk assessment framework, and resilience-based approaches. Since we have past one year since this Special Issue opened, thirteen papers have been published, the majority of which focus on the structural safety assessment of bridges under wind, earthquake, collision, wave, etc. The Guest Editors believe that this reprint will provide important theoretical and technical support for bridge damage diagnosis and safety assessment and promote communication and cooperation between design, construction, research, teaching, and production.

Book Life cycle Performance Assessment of Highway Bridges Under Multi hazard Conditions and Environmental Stressors

Download or read book Life cycle Performance Assessment of Highway Bridges Under Multi hazard Conditions and Environmental Stressors written by Azadeh Alipour and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Civil infrastructure systems such as highway transportation networks are tied up, directly or indirectly, with every country's economy in a major way. The state of nation's civil infrastructure has also significant impacts on the safety and quality of living. Among various infrastructure components, the highway bridges play a key role in a transportation network and huge money is spent every year to ensure their functionality. Over the time, highway bridges are aging, rapidly deteriorating, and becoming increasingly vulnerable to the catastrophic failure during probable natural or man-made hazards. In this study, the performance of reinforced concrete highway bridges, which form the majority of existing bridges in California, is evaluated during earthquake events while they have been continuously exposed to environmental stressors, such as attack of chloride ions. To assess the global structural degradation due to the deterioration mechanisms, an inventory of representative bridges of California with different structural attributes are studied. The extent of capacity loss is calculated using a finite difference procedure and the results are then utilized to find the life-cycle cost of bridges. The effects of deterioration processes on the functionality of the entire transportation network are also studied through the case-study analysis of the Los Angeles and Orange County highway transportation network. The change in the most important parameters associated with the network performance, such as total travel time, drivers delay, and traffic capacity, are thoroughly investigated following various bridge type-age scenarios. The inspection and maintenance costs of the whole system are then estimated using a multi-hazard framework to minimize the system costs while ensuring its safety.

Book Earthquakes

Download or read book Earthquakes written by and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2019-09-11 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a collection of scientific papers on earthquake preparedness, vulnerability, resilience, and risk assessment. Using case studies from various countries, chapters cover topics ranging from early warning systems and risk perception to long-term effects of earthquakes on vulnerable communities and the science of seismology, among others. This volume is a valuable resource for researchers, students, non-governmental organizations, and key decision-makers involved in earthquake disaster management systems at national, regional, and local levels.

Book Bridge Maintenance  Safety  Management  Life Cycle Sustainability and Innovations

Download or read book Bridge Maintenance Safety Management Life Cycle Sustainability and Innovations written by Hiroshi Yokota and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2021-04-20 with total page 8732 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bridge Maintenance, Safety, Management, Life-Cycle Sustainability and Innovations contains lectures and papers presented at the Tenth International Conference on Bridge Maintenance, Safety and Management (IABMAS 2020), held in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan, April 11–15, 2021. This volume consists of a book of extended abstracts and a USB card containing the full papers of 571 contributions presented at IABMAS 2020, including the T.Y. Lin Lecture, 9 Keynote Lectures, and 561 technical papers from 40 countries. The contributions presented at IABMAS 2020 deal with the state of the art as well as emerging concepts and innovative applications related to the main aspects of maintenance, safety, management, life-cycle sustainability and technological innovations of bridges. Major topics include: advanced bridge design, construction and maintenance approaches, safety, reliability and risk evaluation, life-cycle management, life-cycle sustainability, standardization, analytical models, bridge management systems, service life prediction, maintenance and management strategies, structural health monitoring, non-destructive testing and field testing, safety, resilience, robustness and redundancy, durability enhancement, repair and rehabilitation, fatigue and corrosion, extreme loads, and application of information and computer technology and artificial intelligence for bridges, among others. This volume provides both an up-to-date overview of the field of bridge engineering and significant contributions to the process of making more rational decisions on maintenance, safety, management, life-cycle sustainability and technological innovations of bridges for the purpose of enhancing the welfare of society. The Editors hope that these Proceedings will serve as a valuable reference to all concerned with bridge structure and infrastructure systems, including engineers, researchers, academics and students from all areas of bridge engineering.

Book Risk based Approach for Life cycle Assessment and Management of Bridges and Ship Structures

Download or read book Risk based Approach for Life cycle Assessment and Management of Bridges and Ship Structures written by Alberto Deco and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Existing civil and marine structures and infrastructures have to maintain their serviceability and safety under the effects induced by "normal events" and to withstand the effects of "extreme events". Although the quantification of the performance of a structural system is usually conducted considering only structural aspects, in this study consequences arising from the occurrence of potential disruption of service due to failure/malfunction of structural components are also considered, leading to risk assessment. Uncertainties are unavoidable in planning, design, and maintenance of structural systems. Advanced probabilistic methods, such as Monte Carlo simulations based on Latin Hypercube sampling, finite element and response surfaces analyses are used in this study in order to account for uncertainties and their propagation over time. The main focus of this study is to develop a risk-based approach for the life-cycle assessment and management of civil and marine structures with emphasis on single highway bridges, groups of bridges, and ship structures. Risk is assessed for highway bridges under the effects of multiple hazards, including traffic, environmental attacks, scour, and earthquakes, whereas the effects of traffic and earthquake are accounted for groups of bridges. Other performance indicators, including reliability, redundancy, and resilience to disasters, are also investigated. For ship structures, a novel approach is developed for the evaluation of time-variant reliability, redundancy, and risk accounting for different limit states of the ship hull, potential effects induced by corrosion, and considering different ship operational conditions over time. Risk is assessed based on reliability analysis by accounting several limit states and quantifying the associated potential monetary losses for a spectrum of consequences, including operating costs and accident costs. A novel approach for near real-time multi-criteria optimal ship routing, integrating risk and structural health monitoring data is developed considering different damage scenarios and generic operational conditions. The developed approaches are applied to several structures, including a highway bridge crossing the Wisconsin River in Wausau, WI, a highway bridge carrying a segment of the northbound I-15 crossing the Temescal Wash located close to the city of Corona, CA, a group of existing bridges located north of the San Diego metropolitan area, and a NAVY's Joint High-Speed Sealift.

Book Multi hazard Damage and Loss Assessment of Bridge Networks

Download or read book Multi hazard Damage and Loss Assessment of Bridge Networks written by Patrick O. Burns and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 102 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The overarching objective of this study is to examine and compare the vulnerabilities of bridges combining effects of earthquake-induced ground shaking, ground failure (e.g., landslides and lateral spreading), and tsunami inundation. A parametric study is performed to understand the sensitivity of economic loss and traffic capacity with respect to the demand, resistance, and dispersion of the fragility functions of bridges for the combined hazards. The predicted damage varies substantially based on the selected fragility functions for the bridge structure. Additionally, when ground failure models are considered, there is an overwhelming increase in bridge damage and economic loss estimates, reinforcing the need for more refined ground failure analyses to reduce epistemic uncertainty. The loss estimates are significantly sensitive to fragility parameters, particularly the resistance models, emphasizing the need to develop more specific and systematic fragility functions suitable for an entire bridge inventory. Economic loss estimates based on these cascading hazards are ultimately provided with the M9.0 Cascadia Subduction Earthquake Zone scenario.

Book Maintenance  Monitoring  Safety  Risk and Resilience of Bridges and Bridge Networks

Download or read book Maintenance Monitoring Safety Risk and Resilience of Bridges and Bridge Networks written by Tulio Nogueira Bittencourt and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2016-11-17 with total page 616 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Maintenance, Monitoring, Safety, Risk and Resilience of Bridges and Bridge Networks contains the lectures and papers presented at the Eighth International Conference on Bridge Maintenance, Safety and Management (IABMAS 2016), held in Foz do Iguaçu, Paraná, Brazil, 26-30 June, 2016. This volume consists of a book of extended abstracts and a DVD containing the full papers of 369 contributions presented at IABMAS 2016, including the T.Y. Lin Lecture, eight Keynote Lectures, and 360 technical papers from 38 countries. The contributions deal with the state-of-the-art as well as emerging concepts and innovative applications related to all main aspects of bridge maintenance, safety, management, resilience and sustainability. Major topics covered include: advanced materials, ageing of bridges, assessment and evaluation, bridge codes, bridge diagnostics, bridge management systems, composites, damage identification, design for durability, deterioration modeling, earthquake and accidental loadings, emerging technologies, fatigue, field testing, financial planning, health monitoring, high performance materials, inspection, life-cycle performance and cost, load models, maintenance strategies, non-destructive testing, optimization strategies, prediction of future traffic demands, rehabilitation, reliability and risk management, repair, replacement, residual service life, resilience, robustness, safety and serviceability, service life prediction, strengthening, structural integrity, and sustainability. This volume provides both an up-to-date overview of the field of bridge engineering as well as significant contributions to the process of making more rational decisions concerning bridge maintenance, safety, serviceability, resilience, sustainability, monitoring, risk-based management, and life-cycle performance using traditional and emerging technologies for the purpose of enhancing the welfare of society. It will serve as a valuable reference to all involved with bridge structure and infrastructure systems, including students, researchers and engineers from all areas of bridge engineering.

Book Bridge Safety  Maintenance and Management in a Life Cycle Context

Download or read book Bridge Safety Maintenance and Management in a Life Cycle Context written by Dan M. Frangopol and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2022-02-16 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the past two decades, it has been generally acknowledged that life-cycle bridge analysis can be a systematic tool to address efficient and effective bridge management under uncertainty life-cycle management at the bridge network level can lead to an improvement in the allocation of limited financial resources, ensuring the safety and functionality of the bridge network life-cycle management of bridges and bridge networks based on resilience and sustainability can improve their resistance and robustness to extreme events such as earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, and hurricanes bridge management should consider the impact of environmental conditions and climate change This book addresses important concepts and approaches developed recently on bridge safety, maintenance, and management in a life-cycle context. Bridge life-cycle performance and cost analysis, prediction, optimization, and decision making under uncertainty are discussed. The major topics include bridge safety and service life prediction; bridge inspection and structural health monitoring; bridge maintenance; life-cycle bridge and bridge network management; optimum life-cycle bridge management planning; resilience and sustainability of bridges and bridge networksunder hazards; and bridge management considering climate change. By providing practical applications of the presented concepts and approaches, this book can help students, researchers, practitioners, infrastructure owners and managers, and transportation officials to build up their knowledge of life-cycle bridge performance and cost management at bothproject level and network level under various deteriorating mechanisms, hazards and climate change effects.

Book Engineering for Extremes

Download or read book Engineering for Extremes written by Mark G. Stewart and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-12-16 with total page 449 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The volume explains how risk and decision-making analytics can be applied to the wicked problem of protecting infrastructure and society from extreme events. There is increasing research that takes into account the risks associated with the timing and severity of extreme events in engineering to reduce the vulnerability or increase the resiliency of infrastructure. "Engineering for extremes" is defined as measures taken to reduce the vulnerability or increase the resiliency of built infrastructure to climate change, hurricanes, storms, floods, earthquakes, heat waves, fires, and malevolent and abnormal events that include terrorism, gas explosions, vehicle impact and vehicle overload. The book introduces the key concepts needed to assess the economic and social well-being risks, costs and benefits of infrastructure to extreme events. This includes hazard modelling (likelihood and severity), infrastructure vulnerability, resilience or exposure (likelihood and extent of damage), social and economic loss models, risk reduction from protective measures, and decision theory (cost-benefit and utility analyses). Case studies authored by experts from around the world describe the practical aspects of risk assessment when deciding on the most cost-efficient measures to reduce infrastructure vulnerability to extreme events for housing, buildings, bridges, roads, tunnels, pipelines, and electricity infrastructure in the developed and developing worlds.

Book Structures and Infrastructure Systems

Download or read book Structures and Infrastructure Systems written by Dan M. Frangopol and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-12-18 with total page 830 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Our knowledge to model, design, analyse, maintain, manage and predict the life-cycle performance of infrastructure systems is continually growing. However, the complexity of these systems continues to increase and an integrated approach is necessary to understand the effect of technological, environmental, economic, social, and political interactions on the life-cycle performance of engineering infrastructure. In order to accomplish this, methods have to be developed to systematically analyse structure and infrastructure systems, and models have to be formulated for evaluating and comparing the risks and benefits associated with various alternatives. Civil engineers must maximize the life-cycle benefits of these systems to serve the needs of our society by selecting the best balance of the safety, economy, resilience and sustainability requirements despite imperfect information and knowledge. Within the context of this book, the necessary concepts are introduced and illustrated with applications to civil and marine structures. This book is intended for an audience of researchers and practitioners world‐wide with a background in civil and marine engineering, as well as people working in infrastructure maintenance, management, cost and optimization analysis. The chapters originally published as articles in Structure and Infrastructure Engineering.

Book Bridge Safety  Maintenance  Management  Life Cycle  Resilience and Sustainability

Download or read book Bridge Safety Maintenance Management Life Cycle Resilience and Sustainability written by Joan Ramon Casas and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2022-06-26 with total page 5491 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bridge Safety, Maintenance, Management, Life-Cycle, Resilience and Sustainability contains lectures and papers presented at the Eleventh International Conference on Bridge Maintenance, Safety and Management (IABMAS 2022, Barcelona, Spain, 11–15 July, 2022). This e-book contains the full papers of 322 contributions presented at IABMAS 2022, including the T.Y. Lin Lecture, 4 Keynote Lectures, and 317 technical papers from 36 countries all around the world. The contributions deal with the state-of-the-art as well as emerging concepts and innovative applications related to the main aspects of safety, maintenance, management, life-cycle, resilience, sustainability and technological innovations of bridges. Major topics include: advanced bridge design, construction and maintenance approaches, safety, reliability and risk evaluation, life-cycle management, life-cycle, resilience, sustainability, standardization, analytical models, bridge management systems, service life prediction, structural health monitoring, non-destructive testing and field testing, robustness and redundancy, durability enhancement, repair and rehabilitation, fatigue and corrosion, extreme loads, needs of bridge owners, whole life costing and investment for the future, financial planning and application of information and computer technology, big data analysis and artificial intelligence for bridges, among others. This volume provides both an up-to-date overview of the field of bridge engineering and significant contributions to the process of making more rational decisions on bridge safety, maintenance, management, life-cycle, resilience and sustainability of bridges for the purpose of enhancing the welfare of society. The volume serves as a valuable reference to all concerned with and/or involved in bridge structure and infrastructure systems, including students, researchers and practitioners from all areas of bridge engineering.

Book Multi Scale Methodologies for Probabilistic Resilience Assessment and Enhancement of Bridges and Transportation Systems

Download or read book Multi Scale Methodologies for Probabilistic Resilience Assessment and Enhancement of Bridges and Transportation Systems written by Aman Karamlou and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Among infrastructure systems, transportation networks are of utmost importance as they allow people to move from damaged to safe areas and rescue/recovery teams to effectively accomplish their mission. Moreover, the functionality and restoration of several other infrastructure systems and socio-economic units of the community is highly interdependent with transportation network performance. Among different components of transportation networks, bridges are among of the most vulnerable and need a particular attention.