Sustainability of Infrastructures vs. Climate Changes

Climate changes became a challenge for the sustainability of infrastructures which are expected to perform during long life-cycles. However, “the forces of mother nature” reflected in codes; do not always cover caprices of the nature manifested in extreme weather events such as abundant snow falls, heavy winds, freezing rain, flooding, etc…..which never occurred before. Examples from Quebec where generally snow falls are important, a “great” ice storm occurred in 1998 and heavy rains became a frequent phenomenon; can serve as examples for the behaviour of some infrastructures in unusual weather conditions. The character and the range of failures caused by snow, wind, ice build-up, etc… in regions regularly exposed to these loads, can serve as a reference for the performance of structures elsewhere, where hazards form climate changes; Forensic Engineering deals with such issues. A parallel between “poorly” designed structures and effects of climate changes leads to the conclusion that quality of design remains the main issue in the consideration regarding these aspects.