Name: Dr Jie Liu
Academic Division: Civil Engineering
Research Group: Digital Roads of the Future
Fellowship period: 3 January 2024 – 02 January 2027
Email: jl2439@cam.ac.uk
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1920-1043
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Strategic Themes Sustainability, Transport and urban infrastructure |
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Research Project Title: Measuring and enhancing the resilience of road infrastructure networks to climate change Theme: Sustainability Abstract: Climate change alters global precipitation and temperature patterns, affecting the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. Assessing and enhancing the resilience of Road Infrastructure Networks (RINs) to climate change is crucial for improving their capacity to withstand, adapt to, and recover from extreme weather conditions. This study aims to: 1) Model cascading failures in RINs during climatic events; 2) Quantify the impact of these events on RIN performance; 3) Develop models to assess RIN resilience across various climate scenarios; and 4) Optimize resilience enhancement strategies from both “pre-disaster” (e.g., infrastructure maintenance and renovation) and “post-disaster” (e.g., infrastructure recovery) perspectives. This research contributes to building a reliable, resilient, and sustainable transportation system, enhancing the reliability, efficiency, and safety of daily travel. This study focuses on t road network in London and its surrounding areas. We gratefully acknowledge industry partners — the Department for Transport, Ordinary Surface, National Highways, the Environment Agency and others— for providing essential research data that enable us to measure network resilience in the research area. An analysis of the vulnerability of the road network in the study area to heavy rainstorms has been conducted, with findings accepted for presentation at the “2025 TRB Annual Meeting”. Following revisions, we plan to submit the conference paper to a journal soon. This research aligns well with two Sustainable Development Goals: 1. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable and 2. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts. For the Technology Readiness Level, this project is expected to reach Level 4: “Component and/or breadboard validation in a laboratory environment.” Real-world data is currently being used to validate the proposed models and methods. For instance, data on sampled flooding depths following heavy rainstorms and estimated Origin-Destination trips have been validated. In the next phase, we will assess the resilience of the road network to heavy rainstorms and other extreme weather events, aiming to produce more practical and impactful results. |
