A Climate-Responsive Retrofitting Framework for Coastal Concrete Infrastructure: Integrated Assessment and Application to the Sheikh Zayed Bridge under Combined Effects of Global Warming, Salinization, and Sea-Level Rise

Coastal concrete infrastructure in hyper-arid regions faces increasing risks from the combined impacts of global warming, salinization, and sea-level rise. These stressors accelerate structural degradation through chloride-induced corrosion, thermal expansion cracking, and groundwater salinity intrusion. This study develops and validates a climate-responsive retrofitting framework tailored to coastal environments in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with the Sheikh Zayed Bridge in Abu Dhabi serving as a real-world case study. The framework integrates site-specific environmental data, multi-scenario finite element modeling (FEM), and material performance evaluation. Four degradation scenarios (baseline, thermal + chloride, salinity, and combined stressors) were simulated using ABAQUS and OpenSees. Results showed a maximum ۳۴.۲% loss in steel cross-section, ۰.۹۴ mm surface cracking, and a ۵۱% reduction in structural service life under combined climatic stress. A multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approach was applied to prioritize retrofitting zones. Among four candidate materials, geopolymer overlays emerged as the optimal solution, offering ۲۸ years of service life extension at a cost index of ۱.۵, compared to ۴۰ years for UHPC with a cost index of ۳.۵. The proposed five-step framework—comprising environmental assessment, risk simulation, material ranking, retrofit prioritization, and digital deployment—demonstrates strong predictive reliability and high regional applicability. Implementing this model in UAE infrastructure planning can reduce maintenance costs by up to ۴۵% over ۳۰ years, extend operational lifespan, and support long-term climate adaptation. The methodology is scalable and transferable to similar infrastructures across the GCC region.

کلیدواژه ها:

United Arab Emirates (UAE) ، Sheikh Zayed Bridge ، Climate-resilient infrastructure ، Retrofitting framework ، Concrete degradation ، Sea-level rise ، Salinization ، Chloride-induced corrosion ، Geopolymer concrete ، Finite element modeling (FEM).