Purpose: Natural disasters disrupt not only the lives of individuals but also the functioning of society. Given the unpredictability of disasters and the uncertainty associated with them, preparation is the best way to mitigate and reduce the effects of the disaster. Design/methodology/approach: The study presents a mathematical model in the form of a multi-objective linear programming problem for the relief distribution from the airports which minimizes the total operational cost as well as travel time. Further, the solution approach and analytical results have also been discussed. Findings: The main aims at the preparedness stage are to identify and build infrastructures that might function as useful operation centres during a disaster. The study also provides decisions that include the type and number of vehicles for each affected location. Research limitations/implications: Airports can function as centres for relief collection and distribution. However, relief operations carried out through airports are often subject to problems such as stockpiling. Further, various modes are available for the transport of relief supplies- air, water, and land transport modes primarily. While aircraft and helicopters are faster, their costs of operation are too high. Instead, trucks are economical but very slow as compared to aircraft. Practical implications: The choice of model depends on many factors including the availability of vehicles, availability of routes, and criticality of situations. The choices made in turn affect the costs and the time of operations. Originality/value: The model converts a disaster scenario into a demand-supply problem with the aim being to decide allocations at specified intervals of time.
This paper presents a novel buckling-restrained brace (BRB) where the inner core is restrained by a concrete infilled Expanded Polystyrene Sheet (EPS) instead of the conventional concrete infilled tube section, to resist inner core buckling. It serves two purposes, firstly, the EPS is a ductile material, which is favourable in terms of seismic performance and, secondly, the outer construction material has better corrosion resistance. Thus, the life of the steel core can be prolonged. In this study, 6 BRB specimens were prepared, of which 3 BRB specimens were infilled with concrete and the remaining 3 BRB specimens with concrete and EPSs, in order to study their performance under cyclic loading. Three different core heights, all with the same core thickness, were adopted. The test results indicate that the load-carrying capacity of this novel BRB is higher than the conventional BRB. Further, the length of the steel tube also affects the strength of the seismic disaster mitigation system. Lastly, a numerical study on a single bay RC frame, with and without BRB subjected to time history analysis, was conducted to check the global performance of this novel system. It was found that the structural responses had substantially decreased.
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