Abstract
The impacts of flood events that occurred in autumn 2011 in the Italian regions of Liguria and Tuscany revived the engagement of the public decision-maker to enhance the synergy of flood control and land use planning. In this context, the design of efficient flood risk mitigation strategies and their subsequent implementation critically relies on a careful vulnerability analysis of the fixed and mobile elements exposed to flood hazard. In this paper we develop computation schemes enabling dynamic vulnerability and risk analyses for a broad typological variety of elements at risk. To show their applicability, a series of prime examples are discussed in detail, e.g. a bridge deck impacted by the flood and a car, first displaced and subsequently exposed to collision with fixed objects. We hold the view that it is essential that the derivation of the computational schemes to assess the vulnerability of endangered objects should be based on classical and fluid mechanics. In such a way, we aim to complement from a methodological perspective the existing, mainly empirical, vulnerability and risk assessment approaches and to support the design of effective flood risk mitigation strategies by defusing the main criticalities within the systems prone to flood risk.
Highlights
Natural hazards, vulnerability and risk in mountain regions have increasingly become a focus of political attention in recent years [1]
Which may trigger significant raising of hazard levels, leading to flooding configurations which may induce the uncontrolled floating of mobile objects. Departing from these premises and from a dynamic conceptualization of vulnerability, we approach its assessment from an engineering science perspective, according to the following methodological skeleton: (1) Hydrodynamic computation of time-dependent flood intensities resulting for each element at risk in a succession of loading configurations; (2) Modeling the mechanical response of objects impacting against one another through static, elasto-static and kinetic analyses; (3) Characterizing the mechanical response through proper structural damage variables and (4) economic valuation of the losses as a function of the quantified damage variables
Major interrelated requirements have to be met by the risk management process [18]. These include the assessment of (1) the risk mitigation performance of planned mitigation strategies; (2) the cost-plan for each strategy which shall be considered from a life-cycle perspective; and (3) of the net present value resulting from the benefits and costs, both evaluated on an annual basis, carried by the available mitigation alternatives
Summary
Vulnerability and risk in mountain regions have increasingly become a focus of political attention in recent years [1]. Which may trigger significant raising of hazard levels, leading to flooding configurations which may induce the uncontrolled floating of mobile objects (e.g., vehicles) Departing from these premises and from a dynamic conceptualization of vulnerability, we approach its assessment from an engineering science perspective (entailing analyses based on fluid and classical mechanics), according to the following methodological skeleton: (1) Hydrodynamic computation of time-dependent flood intensities resulting for each element at risk in a succession of loading configurations; (2) Modeling the mechanical response of objects impacting against one another through static, elasto-static and kinetic analyses; (3) Characterizing the mechanical response through proper structural damage variables and (4) economic valuation of the losses as a function of the quantified damage variables. By making explicit risk dynamics and cost generation mechanisms, the scope of application of cost-benefit analysis is expanded beyond its classical role as a decision-support tool and linked to the core of the planning process
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