A GIS-based regional risk analysis approach for bridges against natural hazards.

摘要

This study is concerned with the regional evaluation of potential damage to bridges which may be subjected to strong earth shaking as a result of an earthquake. The regional evaluation of bridges which may be impacted by seismic hazards is of great concern for purposes of emergency planning and response, and for establishing priorities for maintenance and retrofit if an unacceptable risk is found to exist. An important tool which can aid in carrying out seismic risk analysis is the use of Computer-based Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The GIS system can be treated as one object module forming a part of an overall object-oriented system which includes other object modules to carry out specific functions such as damage vulnerability or ground motion attenuation. The analysis uses the GIS system as a platform to integrate wide variety of information and computational procedures needed to evaluate the impact of a user selected earthquake on the total system of bridges in a region. Erie County, New York was selected as a demonstration area to develop the analysis and prediction procedures. This county can be considered as representative of the seismic environment of the Eastern United States in which there is a significant earthquake risk but the frequency of events is low. The regional analysis procedure can be easily applied to other geographic areas.