ABSTRACT
Recent large scale hurricanes and their associated damage to bridges have demonstrated the need to include such extreme events in the design and performance assessment of coastal bridges. Coastal zones are vulnerable to accelerated sea level rise due to anthropogenic climate changes, and the structures and infrastructure systems become increasingly vulnerable. This paper investigates the performance of coastal bridges under climate change effect with an emphasis on sea level rise and hurricanes. Simply-supported low-clearance coastal bridges are subjected to extreme hydraulic forces during hurricanes that may dislodge the superstructure from its supports. Adaptation measures are applied to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change. For coastal bridges, this includes measures that reduce hydraulic loads or increase capacity to withstand the loads. A quantitative assessment of the site-specific climate change effects on the performance of a typical coastal bridge located in a hurricane prone region in New Jersey is performed.
