Forrest Masters

University of Florida

Active research trends suggest that the design, construction and operation of civil infrastructure and lifelines will rapidly advance during the next few decades. Reliability-based design approaches that underpin current model codes, regulations and engineering standards will maturate into a resilience-based decision framework that establishes new performance goals for community functioning pre- and post-disaster. Hazard-centric design approaches will further homogenize into multihazard engineering guidelines that optimize the lifecycle cost of infrastructure. Concurrent adoption of sustainable design practices will influence this process, leading to long-term performance expectations for infrastructure as it physically ages and undergoes changes caused by operation and exposure to weather. Design tools will shift towards automation with increasing reliance on machine learning and other artificial intelligence based agents that will reduce costs, construction time, and environmental impact. Robotics, prefabrication and additive manufacturing will become more widespread both in proof-of-concept and in day-to-day application. Humans and machines will work with lighter, stronger, and greener materials, while the application of conventional materials continues to be refined to overcome technical limitations of today. This talk will explore this future, the technology now creating it, and the viewpoint the technologies described above offer an end run on the longstanding problem of making communities more resilient to natural hazards.