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Performance-Based Prioritization of Fire Mitigation for Highway Bridges
Abstract
The authors have recently developed a 3D Matlab-based modeling tool that links the actual geometry of a bridge structure with the realistic exposure to an open-air hydrocarbon fire caused by a tanker truck accident. The streamlined framework at the core of this tool synthesizes numerous calculation techniques based on both first principles and empirical data to quantify the extent of damage caused by a specified fire hazard. Due to its computational efficiency, this framework can be used to develop an envelope of performance for a range of fire hazard scenarios. In this study, 2,500 analyses are performed using fire hazard parameters that are selected via weighted random sampling from fields of probable inputs. The results of these analyses provide hazard-based consequence maps which can then be used to determine fire protection prioritization among a collection of overpass bridges in an interchange