Transportation Infrastructures under Extreme Conditions

The course starts with discussing the fundamentals of transportation infrastructures, like fatigue analysis, degradation mechanisms and life-time prediction techniques. Then the focus will go to natural harsh conditions influencing transport infrastructure. Here the stability of soil foundations, liquefaction phenomena, and the effects of extreme conditions like strong wind, very low and very high temperatures on the (long-term) performance of roads and railways are some of the topics that this module will focus on. Moreover, the impact of disasters like earthquakes or flooding of existing infrastructure will be discussed. In addition, the influence of both increasing traffic volumes and speed on the condition of transport infrastructures will be addressed. Finally, the course will present some countermeasures against the before-mentioned harsh conditions and disasters.