Date of Graduation

5-2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering

Degree Level

Undergraduate

Department

Civil Engineering

Advisor/Mentor

Hernandez, Sarah

Committee Member

Wood, Clint

Second Committee Member

Mitra, Suman

Abstract

Natural hazards are a dangerous and unpredictable aspect of life on earth. They can cause devastating damage to our surroundings that makes movement of people, goods, and emergency services difficult. There is a need to plan for these disasters to ensure that damages to our infrastructure and people are minimized. It can be difficult for planners to determine which parts of a roadway network are most vulnerable to a specific disaster and what their impact on the rest of the network may be. This thesis uses a nationally available natural disaster estimation tool developed by FEMA called “Hazus” (FEMA, 2020). This thesis focuses on the effect of a large magnitude earthquake in the New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ) on the roadway network of Arkansas. Results from this analysis showed that an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.7 from the NMSZ would produce more than $3 billion dollars in damages to the transportation system alone and affect over 23,000 miles of road. Furthermore, the results of this thesis highlight which counties may be at greater risk of damage from such an event as well as the functional classifications of the roads most affected. This thesis can be used to guide emergency management and transportation planners on the process and methodology of using Hazus, and the results of this thesis can be used to help determine mitigation and resilience strategies for the roadway network of Arkansas.

Keywords

Earthquake; HAZUS; Transportation; New Madrid Seismic Zone; Civil Engineering

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