Resilient Flood Protection Infrastructure: Adaptive Design, Analysis, and Innovative Solutions for Evolving Hazards

Flood protection infrastructure, such as dams and levees, is essential for safeguarding communities, economies, and ecosystems. However, advancements in the understanding of natural hazards over recent decades have exposed significant gaps in the designs of infrastructure built 50 years ago, which were based on the knowledge available at the time. Many of these structures no longer meet modern engineering standards, leaving them vulnerable to extreme natural events. Combined with the challenges posed by climate change, aging infrastructure, and increasingly severe natural hazards, this highlights the urgent need to reassess and enhance the resilience and adaptability of these critical systems. This special issue focuses on innovative approaches to design, analyze, and manage flood protection infrastructure to withstand single, compound, and cascading natural hazard events. It explores strategies to address the vulnerability of aging infrastructure, minimize economic and environmental impacts, and ensure the safety of the communities these systems protect. Additionally, it highlights cutting-edge technologies, equitable infrastructure planning, sustainability practices, and actionable policies to prepare current and future infrastructure for evolving challenges.

This special issue seeks original research articles and review papers covering a broad range of topics, including but not limited to:

• Significant Projects (i) Designing resilient infrastructure systems to withstand extreme natural hazards. (ii) Building resilient communities through equitable and adaptive flood protection planning.
• System Failures (i) Risk management and disaster mitigation strategies. (ii) Lessons learned from catastrophic infrastructure failures and their implications for future design and policy.
• State of the Industry (i) Current trends and challenges in flood protection infrastructure.
• Strategic Issues and Public Policy (i) Integrating climate adaptation practices into flood infrastructure planning. (ii) Advancing guidelines and adoption of resilience-based standards. • Standards (i) Defining performance objectives and functional recovery criteria for flood protection systems. (ii) Measuring and maintaining infrastructure sustainability and resilience. • Emerging Technologies (i) Digital innovations, including digital twins and virtual testbeds for analysis. (ii) Artificial intelligence and machine learning applications for predictive modelling and risk assessment.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review

Keywords: lood protection, dams, levees, climate resilience, adaptive design, extreme hazards, cascading effects, aging infrastructure, disaster mitigation, risk management, sustainability, equitable planning, digital twins, artificial intelligence.

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.