On civil engineering disasters and their mitigation

Civil engineering works such as buildings and infrastructure are the carriers of human civilization. They are, however, also the origins of various types of disasters, which are referred to in this paper as civil engineering disasters. This paper presents the concept of civil engineering disasters, their characteristics, classification, causes, and mitigation technologies. Civil engineering disasters are caused primarily by civil engineering defects, which are usually attributed to improper selection of construction site, hazard assessment, design and construction, occupancy, and maintenance. From this viewpoint, many so-called natural disasters such as earthquakes, strong winds, floods, landslides, and debris flows are substantially due to civil engineering defects rather than the actual natural hazards. Civil engineering disasters occur frequently and globally and are the most closely related to human beings among all disasters. This paper emphasizes that such disasters can be mitigated mainly through civil engineering measures, and outlines the related objectives and scientific and technological challenges.

Risk assessment of coastal flooding disaster by storm surge based on Elevation-Area method and hydrodynamic models:Taking Bohai Bay as an example

The future inundation by storm surge on coastal areas are currently ill-defined.With increasing global sealevel due to climate change,the coastal flooding by storm surge is more and more frequently,especially in coastal lowland with land subsidence.Therefore,the risk assessment of such inundation for these areas is of great significance for the sustainable socio-economic development.In this paper,the authors use Elevation-Area method and Regional Ocean Model System(ROMS)model to assess the risk of the inundation of Bohai Bay by storm surge.The simulation results of Elevation-Area method show that either a 50-year or 100-year storm surge can inundate coastal areas exceeding 8000 km^(2);the numerical simulation results based on hydrodynamics,considering ground friction and duration of the storm surge high water,show that a 50-year or 100-year storm surge can only inundate an area of over 2000 km^(2),which is far less than 8000 km^(2);while,when taking into account the land subsidence and sea level rise,the very inundation range will rapidly increase by 2050 and 2100.The storm surge will greatly impact the coastal area within about 10-30 km of the Bohai Bay,in where almost all major coastal projects are located.The prompt response to flood disaster due to storm surge is urgently needed,for which five suggestions have been proposed based on the geological background of Bohai Bay.This study may offer insight into the development of the response and adaptive plans for flooding disasters caused by storm surge.

Developing a risk assessment system for gas tunnel disasters in China

Gas disasters always restrict the tunnel constructions in mountain area, which becomes a major geological barrier against the development of underground engineering. China is rich in coal resources and has a large amount of gas with a wide range of distribution. However, China experienced not only adverse effects on coal mining but also gas disasters in underground engineering construction, such as tunnels and chambers. With the increased number of tunnels passing through coal-bearing strata, the incidence of gas accidents is also rising. Therefore, the significance of preventing and mitigating gas disasters should be emphasized, and an effective risk assessment method for gas disasters should be established. On the basis of research on over 100 gas tunnels in China, a relatively ideal gas disaster risk assessment method and system for tunnels are established through the following measures. Firstly, geo-environmental conditions and gas situations were analyzed during construction. Secondly, qualitative analysis was combined with quantitative analysis. Finally, the influencing factors of gas disasters, including geological conditions, gas,and human factors, were investigated. The gas tunnel risk assessment system includes three levels:(1) the grading assessment of a gas tunnel during the planning stage,(2) the risk assessment of gas tunnel construction during the design and construction stages,(3) the gas tunnel outburst risk assessment during the coal uncovering stage. This system was applied to the dynamic assessment of gas disaster during the construction of the Zipingpu tunnel of Dujiangyan–Wenchuan Highway(in Sichuan, Southwest China). The assessment results were consistent with the actual excavation, which verified the rationality and feasibility of the system. The developed system was believed to be back-up and applied for risk assessment of gas disaster in the underground engineering construction.

Landslide susceptibility assessment in Western Henan Province based on a comparison of conventional and ensemble machine learning

Landslide is a serious natural disaster next only to earthquake and flood,which will cause a great threat to people’s lives and property safety.The traditional research of landslide disaster based on experience-driven or statistical model and its assessment results are subjective,difficult to quantify,and no pertinence.As a new research method for landslide susceptibility assessment,machine learning can greatly improve the landslide susceptibility model’s accuracy by constructing statistical models.Taking Western Henan for example,the study selected 16 landslide influencing factors such as topography,geological environment,hydrological conditions,and human activities,and 11 landslide factors with the most significant influence on the landslide were selected by the recursive feature elimination(RFE)method.Five machine learning methods[Support Vector Machines(SVM),Logistic Regression(LR),Random Forest(RF),Extreme Gradient Boosting(XGBoost),and Linear Discriminant Analysis(LDA)]were used to construct the spatial distribution model of landslide susceptibility.The models were evaluated by the receiver operating characteristic curve and statistical index.After analysis and comparison,the XGBoost model(AUC 0.8759)performed the best and was suitable for dealing with regression problems.The model had a high adaptability to landslide data.According to the landslide susceptibility map of the five models,the overall distribution can be observed.The extremely high and high susceptibility areas are distributed in the Funiu Mountain range in the southwest,the Xiaoshan Mountain range in the west,and the Yellow River Basin in the north.These areas have large terrain fluctuations,complicated geological structural environments and frequent human engineering activities.The extremely high and highly prone areas were 12043.3 km^(2)and 3087.45 km^(2),accounting for 47.61%and 12.20%of the total area of the study area,respectively.Our study reflects the distribution of landslide susceptibility in western Henan Province,which provides a scientific basis for regional disaster warning,prediction,and resource protection.The study has important practical significance for subsequent landslide disaster management.

Hydrological response characteristics of landslides under typhoon-triggered rainstorm conditions

Many landslide disasters,which tend to result in significant damage,are caused by typhoon-triggered rainstorms.In this case,it is very important to study the dynamic characteristics of the hydrological response of landslide bodies since it enables the early warning and prediction of landslide disasters in typhoon periods.To investigate the dynamic mechanisms of groundwater in a landslide body under typhoon-triggered rainstorm conditions,the authors selected the landslide occurring in Zhonglin Village,Wencheng County,China(also referred to as Zhonglin Village landslide)as a case study.The transient seepage field characteristics of groundwater in the landslide body were simulated with two different rainfall models by using the finite element method(FEM).The research results show that the impact of typhoon-triggered rainstorms on landslides can be divided into three stages:(i)Rapid rise of groundwater level;(ii)infiltration of groundwater from the surface to deeper level,and(iii)surface runoff erosion.Moreover,the infiltration rate of groundwater in the landslide body is mainly affected by the intensity of typhoon-induced rainfall.It can be deduced that higher rainfall intensity leads to a greater potential difference and a higher infiltration rate.The rainfall intensity also determines the development mode of landslide deformation and destruction.

The siltation of debris flow behind check dam in the midstream of Bailong River

Siltation gradient and siltation length are important parameters for designing gravity check dams for debris flows,which directly affect the accuracy of estimates of interception capacity.At present,siltation gradient calculations are based primarily on empirical values,and range from 0.4 to 0.95 times the channel slope coefficient.The middle reaches of the Bailong River are one of the four areas in China that are most severely affected by debris flow hazards.Gravity dams are widely employed in this mountainous area.However,field studies of their capacity are lacking.In this paper,the operations of check dams were investigated.Based on field investigation results and theoretical analysis,calculations for siltation gradient,siltation length,and dam storage capacity are established.The impact of debris flow density,channel slope,and particle size weight percentages are discussed.The calculations show that the theoretical values for siltation gradient are consistent with measured values with 83.6% accuracy;and theoretical values of siltation length are consistent with measured values with 91.6% accuracy.The results of this research are an important reference for optimal height and spacing of dams,estimation of dam storage capacity,and disaster prevention.