Resilience enhancement of using prefabrication technology for post-accident restoration of coastal infrastructure

Abstract

Severe weather or man-made accidents often cause serious damage to coastal infrastructure. A long-term suspension of coastal infrastructure under severe accidents always trigger a significant resilience degradation. Rapid restoration techniques are hence essential for the post-accident resilience of coastal infrastructure. However, current research on post-accident resilience assessment and technology enhancement for coastal infrastructure restoration is still inadequate. Therefore, this study proposed the application of prefabrication technology to enhance the coastal infrastructure resilience to fill this knowledge gap. First, accident-oriented simulation was performed to quantitatively assess the damage of port structure. Next, a precast component database was constructed to establish restoration schemes. Finally, a resilience assessment process considering the restoration process, time and cost was developed. The process formed an essential tool for coastal resilience assessment and produced the following key results. (1) freighter impacts can trigger a significant resilience degradation of coastal infrastructure. Such accidents cause enormous restoration work, long recovery times and high restoration costs. (2) The application of prefabrication technology for port structure restoration is significantly advantageous. The resilience of prefabrication restoration is about 38% higher than cast-in-situ restoration, and the recovery time reduction is more than twice. (3) Perpetual restoration is an advantage of prefabrication restoration. Compared with cast-in-situ restoration, the resilience of perpetual restoration is improved by 75.6%. Perpetual restoration shortens major restoration recovery time by 60.8%, and achieves 46.1% cost optimization. (4) Prefabrication technology demonstrates adaptability to large-scale and long-term operating coastal infrastructure. The application of prefabrication technology for major restoration saves local resources by more than twice compared to cast-in-situ restoration, and achieves up to 54% restoration cost optimization. In summary, prefabrication technology has demonstrated green and efficient features for post-accident restoration of port structures. The proposed resilience assessment process establishes a theoretical foundation for resilience assessment of post-disaster restoration of coastal infrastructure and develops a strategy for post-disaster resilience.