Managing Highway Bridges against Climate

200 Pages·2016·10.27 MB·English

by  Anthony Ikpong

Managing Highway Bridges against Climate-
Triggered Extreme Events in Cold Regions

Anthony Akpan Ikpong

PhD Thesis

Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the
Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy (Civil Engineering) in the Department of

Building, Civil, and Environmental Engineering

Concordia University
Montréal, Québec, Canada

September 2016

CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY

© Anthony Akpan Ikpong
CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES
This is to certify that the thesis prepared
By: (cid:36) (cid:81) (cid:87) (cid:75) (cid:82) (cid:81) (cid:92) (cid:3) (cid:44) (cid:78) (cid:83) (cid:82) (cid:81) (cid:74)
Entitled: (cid:48)(cid:68)(cid:81)(cid:68)(cid:74)(cid:76)(cid:81)(cid:74)(cid:3)(cid:43)(cid:76)(cid:74)(cid:75)(cid:90)(cid:68)(cid:92)(cid:3)(cid:37)(cid:85)(cid:76)(cid:71)(cid:74)(cid:72)(cid:86)(cid:3)(cid:68)(cid:74)(cid:68)(cid:76)(cid:81)(cid:86)(cid:87)(cid:3)(cid:38)(cid:79)(cid:76)(cid:80)(cid:68)(cid:87)(cid:72)(cid:16)(cid:55)(cid:85)(cid:76)(cid:74)(cid:74)(cid:72)(cid:85)(cid:72)(cid:71)(cid:3)(cid:40)(cid:91)(cid:87)(cid:85)(cid:72)(cid:80)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:40)(cid:89)(cid:72)(cid:81)(cid:87)(cid:86)(cid:3)(cid:76)(cid:81)(cid:3)(cid:38)(cid:82)(cid:79)(cid:71)(cid:3)(cid:53)(cid:72)(cid:74)(cid:76)(cid:82)(cid:81)(cid:86)
and submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
(cid:51)(cid:75)(cid:39)(cid:3)(cid:38)(cid:76)(cid:89)(cid:76)(cid:79)(cid:3)(cid:40)(cid:81)(cid:74)(cid:76)(cid:81)(cid:72)(cid:72)(cid:85)(cid:76)(cid:81)(cid:74)
complies with the regulations of the University and meets the accepted standards with
respect to originality and quality.
Signed by the final examining committee:
Chair
(cid:51)(cid:85)(cid:82)(cid:73)(cid:72)(cid:86)(cid:86)(cid:82)(cid:85)(cid:3)(cid:42)(cid:72)(cid:85)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:71)(cid:3)(cid:45)(cid:17)(cid:3)(cid:42)(cid:82)(cid:88)(cid:90)
(cid:51)(cid:85)(cid:82)(cid:73)(cid:72)(cid:86)(cid:86)(cid:82)(cid:85)(cid:3)(cid:39)(cid:68)(cid:89)(cid:76)(cid:71)(cid:3)(cid:47)(cid:68)(cid:88) External Examiner
(cid:51)(cid:85)(cid:82)(cid:73)(cid:72)(cid:86)(cid:86)(cid:82)(cid:85)(cid:3)(cid:48)(cid:17)(cid:3)(cid:51)(cid:68)(cid:70)(cid:78)(cid:76)(cid:85)(cid:76)(cid:86)(cid:68)(cid:80)(cid:92) External to Program
(cid:51)(cid:85)(cid:82)(cid:73)(cid:72)(cid:86)(cid:86)(cid:82)(cid:85)(cid:3)(cid:50)(cid:86)(cid:70)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:3)(cid:51)(cid:72)(cid:78)(cid:68)(cid:88) Examiner
(cid:51)(cid:85)(cid:82)(cid:73)(cid:72)(cid:86)(cid:86)(cid:82)(cid:85)(cid:3)(cid:46)(cid:75)(cid:68)(cid:79)(cid:72)(cid:71)(cid:3)(cid:42)(cid:68)(cid:79)(cid:68)(cid:79) Examiner
(cid:51)(cid:85)(cid:82)(cid:73)(cid:72)(cid:86)(cid:86)(cid:82)(cid:85)(cid:3)(cid:36)(cid:86)(cid:75)(cid:88)(cid:87)(cid:82)(cid:86)(cid:75)(cid:3)(cid:37)(cid:68)(cid:74)(cid:70)(cid:75)(cid:76) Thesis Supervisor
Approved by

Chair of Department or Graduate Program Director

Dean of Faculty
Abstract
Managing Highway Bridges against Climate-
Triggered Extreme Events in Cold Regions

Doctor of Philosophy (Civil Engineering)
Concordia University
2016

Highway bridges represent a significant investment by Governments at both Provincial and
Federal levels and their importance is underscored by the fact that every citizen derives a benefit,
directly or indirectly, from public transportation infrastructure. As with any engineering product,
highway bridges must be well designed and robust to avoid any malfunction that could
jeopardise the lives of people. Further, highway bridges deteriorate over time and need
preservation intervention applied at suitable intervals over the bridge’s service life. Determining
the timing and order of implementation of preservation work among deficient bridges in a
highway bridge inventory is an important function of bridge management.

The doctoral research reported in this thesis aimed to devise a method for the
resilience/vulnerability rating of highway bridges against climate-triggered extreme events/
loads. The research also sought to devise a ranking technique for bridge projects’ programming
by pursuing a one-directional, non-iterative, method that could maximize the value function and
significantly cut down the computer run time for the ranking analysis.

The research outcomes include a weighted-criteria method for the multi-criteria ranking, a
practical tool for the resilience/vulnerability rating of highway bridges against extreme events
such as deck flooding and abutment washout, and a method for determining the magnitude of
climate-triggered extreme load (e.g. ice accretion, pier scour) that could potentially cause bridge
failure.

iii
The projects’ ranking method developed in this research, including the development of a
weighted criteria formulation, could potentially be adopted by bridge management systems in
North America and elsewhere. Further, it is expected that the method will influence future
development of multi-criteria ranking in bridge management and other fields. Similarly, the
proposed new method for climate change resilience rating of highway bridges is a significant
effort at translating the general scientific and engineering impacts’ discussion of climate change
into an engineering tool for the continuous management of bridges. Finally, it will be important
for transportation agencies to determine beforehand what magnitude of climate-triggered
extreme load would produce bridge distress and potential failure, and this thesis provides a
solution to that problem.

iv
Dedication
To
Professor Etim Moses Essien
Professor Ephraim Okon
Architect Idongesit Essien
Mr. G. C. Oniko
The memory of my father Obong Sandi Ikpong
My sister Arit Effiong Ekwere

who set me up for this great opportunity

Many thanks to

My wife Theresa Ikpong
My children Idongesit-Essien, Maeyen, and Idara

for their unflinching support

A big thank you to

My supervisor Dr Ashutosh Bagchi

for piloting this effort to success

Appreciation and thanks to

Yukon Department of Highways and Public Works

for sharing information on the bridges in that region
v
Managing Highway Bridges against
Climate-Triggered Extreme Events
in Cold Regions

Table of Contents
Chapter Page
List of Figures x
List of Tables xiii
List of Abbreviations xv

1. Introduction 1
1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 Motivation and Problem Statement 3
1.3 Research Objectives 4
1.4 Organization of the Thesis 5

2. Literature Review 6
2.1 Introduction 6
2.2 Multi-Criteria Optimization of Bridge Projects’ Selection and 6
Programming
2.3 Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) for Criteria Weights 18
2.4 Vulnerability of Highway Bridges to Climate-Triggered Extreme 19
Events
2.4.1 The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment 20
2.4.2 Studies of Climate Change Impacts on Infrastructure 22
2.4.3 Public Infrastructure Engineering Vulnerability Committee 29
(PIEVC)
2.5 Magnitude of Climate-Triggered Extreme Load that produces 32
Bridge Collapse
2.5.1 Scour 32
2.5.2 Ice Accretion 34
2.6 Summary 34
vi
3. Research Methodology and Data Collection
36

3.1 Introduction 36
3.2 Definitions 37
3.3 Data Collection 38
3.4 Climate Change Resilience/Vulnerability Rating of Highway 39
Bridges
3.4.1 General 39
3.4.2 Model for Evaluation of Resilience Indicators (RI) 41
3.4.3 Procedure for determining Bridge Resilience 47
3.5 Magnitude of Climate-Triggered Extreme Load that Produces 54
Bridge Failure
3.5.1 Pier Scour Extreme Load 57
3.5.2 Ice Accretion Extreme Load 61
3.6 Multi-Criteria Ranking of Competing Bridge Projects 62
3.6.1 Introduction 62
3.6.2 Criteria Weights 63
3.6.3 Characteristics of the Proposed Method 65
3.6.4 Steps for Implementing the Proposed Method 66
3.7 The Overall Model 70
3.8 The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) 71
3.8.1 General 71
3.8.2 Questionnaire Design 73
3.8.3 Analysis for Criteria Weights 74
3.9 Summary 78
4. Resilience Rating of Highway Bridges against Climate- 79
Triggered Extreme Events
4.1 Introduction 79
4.2 Application of the Method 80
4.3 Discussion of Results 84
4.4 Climate Change Vulnerability Rating of Highway Bridges 87
4.4.1 General 87
vii
4.4.2 Sensitivity of the Method 89
4.4.3 Breakdown of Bridge Resilience by Resilience Indicators 95
4.5 Summary 99

5. Magnitude of Climate-Triggered Extreme Load that Produces 100
Bridge Failure
5.1 Introduction 100
5.2 Ice Accretion Extreme Load – Case of a 2-Span through-Truss 102
Bridge (Bridge #12)
5.3 Pier Scour Extreme Load – Case of a Concrete Pier in an 8-Span 103
Bridge
5.4 Summary 113

6. Multi-Criteria Ranking of Competing Bridge Projects 114
6.1 Introduction 114
6.2 Demonstration/Implementation of the Method 116
6.2.1 Ranking of the Projects 117
6.2.2 Projects’ Selection under Budget Constraint 119
6.2.3 Minimizing Life-Cycle Cost while Maximizing Performance 121
6.3 Comparison of the Method with BrM (AASHTO, United States) 122
6.4 Comparison with Weights based on Criteria Ranking 125
(Prioritization)
6.5 Climate Change Vulnerability Vs Risk of Bridge Failure 126
6.6 Probability of Bridge Selection for Intervention as a Function of 128
Vulnerability
6.7 Performance of the Method 139
6.8 Overall Model 143
6.9 Definition of Ranking and Prioritization 145
6.10 Summary 145
viii
7. Comparison of the Multi-Criteria Ranking Method with the 147
Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)
7.1 Introduction 147
7.2 Selection Efficacy 148
7.3 Maximization of the Value Function 150
7.4 Correlation between the Value Function and Each Criterion 153
7.5 Performance of AHP on the One-Large-Criterion Scenario 156
7.6 Method Verification 161
7.7 Summary 161

8. Summary and Conclusions 162
8.1 Summary 162
8.2 Conclusions 163
8.3 Contribution 165
8.4 Limitations and Recommendations for Future Work 166

References 168
Appendix 182

ix
List of Figures

Figure Title Page

2-1 Tradeoffs Prevent Optimization 10
3-1 Risk Assessment Model for Highway Bridges subjected to Extreme 40
Climate Event
3-2 Flow Chart – Calculation of Bridge Resilience 46
3-3 Flow Chart for Analysis of Pier Scour Extreme Loading 55
3-4 Flow Chart for Analysis of Ice Accretion Extreme Loading 58
3-5 Elevation View of Bridge #3 depicting the Parameters for Pier Scour 60
Extreme Load Analysis
3-6 Flow Chart – Direct, Non-Iterative, Multi-Criteria Ranking of Competing 67
Bridge Projects
3-7 Flow Chart – Managing Highway Bridges against Time-dependent 70
Deterioration and Climate-Triggered Extreme Events/Loads
3-8 Categories of Expertise of the Questionnaire Respondents 72
3-9 Photographs of 8 of the 14 Bridges 75
4-1 Bridge #2 – Plan, Elevation, and Section 81
4-2(a) Bridge #4 – Plan and Elevation 83
4-2(b) Bridge #4 – Cross-Section 84
4-3 Resilience Vs Vulnerability – 14 Highway Bridges in the Canadian North 89
4-4(a) Demonstration of Hydraulic Capacity Sensitivity – Bridges #3, #4, and #5 91
4-4(b) Demonstration of Detour Sensitivity – Bridges #3, #4, and #5 92
4-4(c) Demonstration of Hydraulic Capacity Sensitivity – Bridges #1, #2, and #14 94
4-5 Components of a Bridge’s Climate Change Resilience Rating 96
4-6 Resilience Indicators as Predictors of Highway Bridge Resilience 97
4-7 Relationship: Abutment Washout Resilience Indicator Vs Bridge 98
Resilience
5-1 Two-Span Through Truss Bridge subjected to Ice Accretion Loading 103
5-2 Applied Ice Accretion Loading: 1kN/m on all Steel Surfaces exposed to Ice 103
5-3 Lewes River Bridge – 2-Span Through-Truss Bridge similar to the Bridge 104
shown in Figures 5-2 and 5-3
x