Multi-objective optimal allocation of resources to increase the seismic reliability of highways

To reduce the risk of disruption of lifeline systems during the emergency following an earthquake (or any other disaster) preventive interventions on the existing concerned facilities are necessary, but often hindered by the limitation of the available economic resources. In this paper, procedures for the optimal allocation of these resources are presented, with special reference to the case of road networks. It is assumed that the bridges are the only vulnerable elements, and an example of application on a specific network is developed in detail. In the first part of the paper, optimization with respect to several alternative objective functions is dealt with, while in the second part multi-objective optimization is tackled. The results obtained are compared and discussed.