Emergency Resource Location-Allocation and Deployment (eROAD) Tool
This research will develop a new generation of analysis and decision making tools for engineers. They will identify how to locate, and when to deploy, resources to protect critical infrastructure during extreme weather events.
Project leader
Dr Sarah Dunn
Dates
May 2017 to August 2019
Sponsors
EPSRC
Partners
Delft University of Technology
Department for Transport
Energy Networks Association
Highways England
National Grid
University of Wollongong
Description
Infrastructure systems, such as water, electrical and transport networks, form the backbone of a country's social, economic and environmental wellbeing. They underpin the stable functioning of our modern communities.
Current solutions based on ad hoc procedure are currently used to increase the resilience of infrastructure systems . This is due to the current high levels of uncertainty of long-term climate projections. They cannot be reliably used as a basis for changing the design of future assets such as through alteration of design codes.
They are also not reliable for permanently altering current assets, such as through the construction of permanent flooding defences.
Within this current period of flux we cannot simply do nothing, nor can we base decisions upon such uncertain models. Instead we require alternate more adaptive solutions to increase the resilience of our infrastructure.
Using a new generation of analysis and decision making tools, it is possible to ensure a baseline level of service to our communities. For example, through the protection of individual assets or through the provision of a temporary service. This is done without the need of long-term climate scenarios to inform decisions.