Climate Adaptation Engineering and Risk-based Design and Management of Infrastructure

A changing climate may also result in more intense tropical cyclones and storms, more intense rain events and flooding, and other natural hazards. Moreover, increases in CO2 atmospheric concentrations, temperature and humidity will increase corrosion of concrete and steel structures. The chapter will describe how risk-based approaches are well suited to optimising climate adaptation strategies related to the design and maintenance of existing infrastructure. Climate adaptation strategies may include retrofitting or strengthening of existing structures, more frequent inspections, or enhanced designs. An important aspect is assessing at what point in time climate adaptation becomes economically viable. Stochastic methods are used to model infrastructure performance, effectiveness of adaptation strategies, exposure, and costs. These concepts will be illustrated with state-of-the-art research of risk-based assessment of climate adaptation strategies.