Research leader

Prof Sujeeva Setunge Research Leader

Research team

Weena Lokuge Research Team
Chun Qing Li Research Team
Darryn McEvoy Research Team
Kevin Zhang Research Team
Hessam Mohseni
Hessam Mohseni Research Team
Priyan Mendis Research Team
Prof Karu Karunasena Research Team
Dilanthi Amaratunga Research Team

End User representatives

Leesa Carson
Leesa Carson End-User
Duncan McLuckie End-User
Myles Fairbairn
Myles Fairbairn End-User
Wije Ariyaratne End-User
Elliott Simmons
Elliott Simmons End-User
Greg Howard
Greg Howard End-User
Greg Buckley End-User
Yew-Chin Koay End-User
Bob Barrett End-User

Student researchers

Amila Dissanayake Student Reseacher
Dr Farook Kalendher Student Reseacher
Dr Maryam Nasim Student Reseacher
Dr Ismail Qeshta Student Reseacher
Dr Akvan Gajanayake Student Reseacher
Zeinab Yazdanfar Student Reseacher

Bridges, culverts and floodways are lifeline road structures and part of road networks, which have a significant role in ensuring resilience of a community before, during and after a natural disaster. Historical data demonstrates that the failure of road structures can have catastrophic consequences on a community affected by disaster due to the impact on evacuation and post disaster recovery.  The main objective of the project is to understand the vulnerability of critical road structures: bridges, culverts and floodways under natural hazards of flood, bush fire and earthquakes. Once the level of vulnerability is established, the evaluation of importance of the structures for prioritization for hardening is important for decision making by road authorities.

The project addressed the above gap in knowledge through a comprehensive research program undertaken in collaboration with three research partners and six end user partners. Major findings of the research include identification of the levels of hazard exposure which could lead to failure of structures and the other parameters affecting failure. Further, methods of modeling road structures under different loading regimes has been developed with case studies of typical structures. New design approaches for building back better have been proposed for floodway structures based on parametric analysis of typical types of floodways.

Read the final report here.

Year Type Citation
2021 Journal Article Dissanayake, A., Venkatesana, S., Roberta, D. & Setunge, S. Damage integrated performance modelling of steel plate girders at elevated temperature. Journal of Constructional Steel Research 185, (2021).
2021 Report Setunge, S. et al. Enhancing resilience of critical road structures: bridges, culvers and floodways under natural hazards – final project report. (Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC, 2021).
2020 Journal Article Greene, I., Lokuge, W. & Karunasena, W. Structural design of floodways under extreme flood loading. International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment 11, (2020).
2020 Journal Article Pathiranage, T. & Lokuge, W. Vulnerability assessment of bridges subjected to extreme cyclonic events. Natural Hazards (2020). doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-020-03931-y
2020 Journal Article Gajanayake, A., Zhang, G., Khan, T. & Mohseni, H. Post-disaster Impact Assessment of Road Infrastructure: A State of the Art Review. Natural Hazards Review 21, (2020).
2019 Journal Article Lokuge, W., Wilson, M., Tran, H. & Setunge, S. Predicting the probability of failure of timber bridges using fault tree analysis. Structure and Infrastructure Engineering 15, 783-797 (2019).
2019 Report Setunge, S. et al. Enhancing resilience of critical road infrastructure annual report 2018-2019. (Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC, 2019).
2019 Report Setunge, S. et al. Analysis of design standards and applied loads on road structures under extreme events. (Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC, 2019).
2019 Report Setunge, S. et al. Enhancing resilience of critical road infrastructure: bridges, culverts and flood-ways under natural hazards Annual Report 2017-2018. (Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC, 2019).
2018 Journal Article Wahalathantri, B., Lokuge, W., Karunasena, K. & Setunge, S. Quantitative assessment of flood discharges and floodway failures through cross-cultivation of advancement in knowledge and traditional practices. International journal of disaster resilience in the built environment 9, 435-456 (2018).
2018 Journal Article Nasim, M., Setunge, S., Zhou, S. & Mohseni, H. An investigation into the water flow pressure distribution on the bridge pier under flood loading. Structure and Infrastructure Engineering 15, 219-229 (2018).
2018 Journal Article Miramini, S. et al. Health Assessment of a Pedestrian Bridge Deck using Ground Penetrating Radar. Electronic Journal of Structural Engineering 18, 30-37 (2018).
2018 Journal Article Maizuar, M. et al. Dynamic Behavior of Indonesian Bridges using Interferometric Radar Technology. Electronic Journal of Structural Engineering 18, 23-29 (2018).
2018 Report Setunge, S. et al. Failure mechanisms of bridge structures under natural hazards. (Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC, 2018).
2018 Report Setunge, S. et al. Floodway inspection and maintenance framework. (Bushfire & Natural Hazards CRC, 2018).
2017 Journal Article Maizuar, M., Zhang, L., Miramini, S., Mendis, P. & Thompson, R. G. Detecting structural damage to bridge girders using radar interferometry and computational modelling. Structural Control and Health Monitoring 24, (2017).
2017 Journal Article Kafle, B. et al. Monitoring the dynamic behaviour of the Merlynston Creek Bridge using interferometric radar sensors and finite element modeling. International Journal of Applied Mechanics 9, (2017).
2017 Journal Article Lokuge, W., Wilson, M., Tran, H. & Setunge, S. Predicting the failure of timber bridges by using current inspection reports. Engineering for Public Works 7, 85-89 (2017).
2017 Journal Article Herath, N., Mendis, P. & Zhang, L. A probabilistic study of ground motion simulation for Bangkok soil. Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering 15, 1925-1943 (2017).
2017 Report Setunge, S. et al. Enhancing the resilience of critical road infrastructure: annual project report 2016-17. (Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC, 2017).
2016 Journal Article Lokuge, W., Gamage, N. & Setunge, S. Fault tree analysis method for deterioration of timber bridges using an Australian case study. Built Environment Project and Asset Management 6, (2016).
2016 Report Setunge, S. et al. Enhancing resilience of critical road infrastructure: bridges, culverts and flood‐ways under natural hazards: annual project report 2015-2016. (Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC, 2016).
2015 Conference Paper Rumsewicz, M. Research proceedings from the 2015 Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC & AFAC conference. Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC & AFAC annual conference 2015 (Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC, 2015).
2015 Journal Article Wahalathantri, B., Lokuge, W., Karunasena, K. & Setunge, S. Vulnerability of Floodways under Extreme Flood Events. Natural Hazards Review 17, (2015).
2015 Presentation Setunge, S. & Mohseni, H. Enhancing resilience of critical road infrastructure: bridges, culverts and floodways under natural hazards . (2015).
2015 Report Setunge, S. Enhancing Resilience of Critical Road Infrastructure Annual Report 2014. (2015).
2015 Report Setunge, S. et al. Enhancing resilience of critical road infrastructure: bridges, culverts and floodways under natural hazards: Annual project report 2014-2015. (Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC, 2015).
2014 Journal Article Withanaarachchi, J. & Setunge, S. Decision making on transport network planning and the impact on community, economy and the environment. Procedia Economics and Finance 18, 882-891 (2014).
Date Title Download Key Topics
21 Mar 2014 Enhancing resilience of critical road structures PDF icon 722.83 KB (722.83 KB) engineering, flood, infrastructure
04 Dec 2014 Enhancing resilience of critical road structures PDF icon 1.4 MB (1.4 MB) engineering, environments, resilience
11 Sep 2015 Framework to inspect floodways towards estimating damage PDF icon 902.46 KB (902.46 KB) flood
04 May 2016 Hardening buildings and infrastructure - cluster overview File 0 bytes (0 bytes) engineering, infrastructure, multi-hazard
24 Oct 2016 Enhancing resilience of critical road structures: bridges, culverts and floodways under natural hazards PDF icon 4.03 MB (4.03 MB) infrastructure, multi-hazard, resilience
30 Jan 2017 Strengthening infrastructure for natural hazard impacts PDF icon 358.94 KB (358.94 KB) earthquake, engineering, mitigation
07 Jul 2017 Towards a safer built environment PDF icon 8.24 MB (8.24 MB) engineering, infrastructure, multi-hazard
31 Oct 2017 Built environment cluster PDF icon 713.22 KB (713.22 KB) engineering, mitigation, multi-hazard
31 Oct 2017 Enhancing resilience of critical road structures PDF icon 2.5 MB (2.5 MB) engineering, infrastructure, resilience
23 Nov 2018 Enhancing resilience of critical road structures under natural hazards PDF icon 2.74 MB (2.74 MB) infrastructure, resilience
09 Jul 2019 Enhancing resilience of critical road structures under natural hazards PDF icon 4.91 MB (4.91 MB) economics, planning, policy
30 Jul 2019 Enhancing Resilience of critical road structures under natural hazards PDF icon 2.75 MB (2.75 MB) infrastructure, planning, resilience
Enhancing resilience of critical road infrastructure: Bridges, culverts and flood-ways under natural hazards
25 Aug 2014
Road networks and critical road structures such as bridges, culverts and flood ways have a vital role before...
Capturing the Impact of the Failure of Critical Road Structures on the Community
18 Aug 2015
How does the performance of critical road structures such as bridges, culverts and floodways affect the...
Failure Mechanism of a Typical Girder Bridge in Australia due to Seismic Loads
18 Aug 2015
There is a significant need to perform adequate assessment of the vulnerability of bridges and bridge...
Weena Lokuge Conference Poster 2016
12 Aug 2016
It is important to assess the vulnerability of bridges in an extreme flood event as these critical...
Evaluating the performance of flood loadings on structural performance of a floodway
30 Jun 2017
It is important to investigate the vulnerability of floodways in an extreme flood event as these critical...
Collapse risk assessment of strengthened concrete bridge pier under flood loads
30 Jun 2017
A  fluid structure interaction using particle finite element method for the full scale reinforced concrete...
27 Aug 2019
Australian floodway design guidelines exclusively consider hydraulic principles. Comprehensive analysis of...
31 Aug 2020
Key findings: Fragility functions development frameworkis introduced for bridgessubjected to extreme wave-...
31 Aug 2020
Key findings: The cushioning factor is a parameter that can show the structural response and have a...