PolyU research project on climate-resilient coastal infrastructure supported by French National Research Agency/RGC Joint Research Scheme

Climate change is one of the most pressing issues facing the world. The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has received support from The French National Research Agency (Agence Nationale de la Recherche)/Research Grants Council Joint Research Scheme (ANR/RGC Joint Research Scheme) - 2023/24 Exercise to conduct an innovative project on enhancing the resilience of coastal infrastructure to mitigate climate change risks such as sea-level rise and storm surges. It is one of three projects awarded funding from among Hong Kong institutions.

Global warming is seen to be leading to more frequent occurrences of extreme weather. In the face of this challenge, the project “Smart and Flexible Climate Change Adaptation of Coastal Infrastructure”, led by Dr You DONG , Associate Professor of Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of PolyU, has been granted HK$2.45 million under the ANR/RGC Joint Research Scheme for a period of 48 months. The project is being undertaken in collaboration with Prof. Edgar Emilio Bastidas Arteaga of La Rochelle University in France.

Prof. Christina WONG, PolyU Director of Research and Innovation, said, “As an innovative world-class university excelling in diverse disciplines, PolyU has established extensive global partnerships for academic and research collaboration. With a mission to address complex global issues and tackle scientific challenges, we will continue to work closely with our partners to leverage our research strengths, drive innovation across a broad spectrum of cutting-edge research initiatives, and achieve a lasting global impact.”

The funded project will focus on robust and intelligent adaptation of high-risk coastal building structures in Hong Kong and France to withstand compounded coastal flooding and sea level rise caused by global warming, storm surges resulting from tropical cyclones, and heavy rainfall. The intensity and frequency of these events are expected to increase due to climate change. A physics-informed data-driven approach is proposed to predict the occurrence and intensity of future flood hazards. Fluid-structure-interaction models will be developed to explore flood-related damage and failure mechanisms of coastal buildings in a life-cycle context.

In addition, physics-guided deep learning will be utilised to develop multivariate vulnerability and risk models that focus on different building archetypes in the area under investigation and to form a framework for community-level vulnerability and resilience assessment. The research results are expected to generate technologies and knowledge that will contribute to the upgrading of climate-resilient infrastructure in Hong Kong and globally in the near-future.

The ANR/RGC Joint Research Scheme aims to strengthen collaboration between French and Hong Kong research communities, and both basic and applied research proposals of high academic merit in all areas are invited under the Scheme. The assessment criteria include technical and scientific quality, quality of project management and methodology, global impact and the quality of synergies between the partners.

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