Conducted by researchers from the School of Civil Engineering of the College of Engineering:
Presenting a new model for assessing and increasing the resilience of hospitals against earthquakes
According to the public relations of the College of Engineering, Engineer Amir Mohammad Sabbagh, graduate of the master of engineering and construction management and Dr. Meghdad Mohammadian, graduate of the doctorate of engineering and construction management, from the researchers of the School of civil engineering of the University of Tehran, under the supervision of Dr. Gholamreza Heravi, professor of the School of civil engineering an article entitled “A Facility-Level Framework to Assess Hospital Seismic Resilience through interdependent Urban Infrastructure Assessment and enhancement strategies was published and provided a framework for evaluating the seismic resilience of hospitals through the evaluation and improvement of urban infrastructure.
This study examines a topic that has become one of the most important challenges in urban crisis management in recent years: how the failure of vital urban networks after an earthquake can disrupt hospital operations and hinder the relief process. In many past studies, hospitals or urban infrastructure have been examined separately, while in the real world, hospital operations are highly dependent on the continuity of infrastructure services such as electricity and water, and disruptions in any of these systems can cause a chain of failures in other sectors.
In this study, researchers developed a new system dynamics framework to model the interrelationships between hospital internal components and the city's electricity and water networks simultaneously and at the scale of infrastructure components. This model can simulate the propagation of damage, the formation of cascading failures, and the identification of critical bottlenecks in infrastructure networks in post-earthquake conditions. The effect of infrastructure equipment wears and tear, the process of rebuilding damaged components, and the interdependence of electricity and water networks are also included in the model to provide a more realistic picture of the city's performance after the crisis.
Dr. Heravi, the head of this research project, said: "To evaluate the effectiveness of the model, the northeast region of Tehran and one of the hospitals in this region were selected as a case study. The results showed that even when some of the damaged facilities are restored, the interdependence between the electricity and water networks can cause continued disruption in service provision. For example, the return of a water pumping station to operational status without the complete restoration of the upstream power substation does not necessarily mean the reestablishment of water supply services, and this issue can significantly delay the process of restoring hospital performance, which needs to be considered in planning."
Identifying critical nodes and failure amplifying loops in infrastructure networks
He added: "Another achievement of this research is the identification of critical nodes and failure-amplifying loops in infrastructure networks; an issue that allows city managers to focus limited resources on the most effective network components instead of extensive and costly investments. Researchers have also evaluated various scenarios, including the modernization of worn-out equipment, reducing the interdependence of critical networks, and increasing infrastructure redundancy, and have shown that the targeted implementation of these solutions can significantly increase hospital resilience and the sustainability of critical urban services."
The professor at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Tehran concluded: "The importance of this research is not limited to the field of hospitals, but the framework presented can also be expanded to other critical infrastructures such as transportation, telecommunications, energy, and water management systems. This model can be used as a decision-making tool for urban managers, planners, and policymakers to identify vulnerable points in urban networks before a crisis occurs and, by prioritizing resilience measures, prevent the spread of damage and disruption to critical services."
The results of this research were published in the prestigious journal Sustainable Cities and Society with an impact factor of 13.3 and are available at the link below.
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