Earthquake-Resilient Infrastructure: Current Challenges and Emerging Solutions

Earthquake-induced damage continues to pose significant challenges to the safety, functionality, and resilience of civil infrastructure worldwide. Despite substantial advances in seismic design, many existing structures remain vulnerable due to aging, inadequate detailing, changing hazard characteristics, and increasing urbanization. At the same time, rapid developments in sensing technologies, computational mechanics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, digital twins, and performance-based engineering are transforming the way infrastructure is assessed, monitored, and protected. This Research Topic aims to bring together the latest scientific advances and engineering applications addressing earthquake-induced damage and resilience of infrastructure. We welcome original research articles, review papers, case studies, and technical contributions covering theoretical developments, experimental investigations, numerical simulations, and field applications.

This collection seeks to foster interdisciplinary collaboration among researchers and practicing engineers, promoting innovative solutions that enhance the resilience and sustainability of infrastructure exposed to seismic hazards.

Earthquakes remain one of the most destructive natural hazards, causing significant damage to buildings, bridges, transportation networks, and other critical infrastructure, with severe economic and societal consequences. While modern seismic design standards have substantially improved the performance of newly constructed structures, much existing infrastructure remains vulnerable due to aging, inadequate seismic detailing, increasing urbanization, and evolving hazard scenarios. Addressing these challenges requires innovative approaches that combine traditional earthquake engineering principles with emerging digital technologies.

This Research Topic aims to provide a comprehensive platform for presenting the latest advances in understanding, assessing, monitoring, and mitigating earthquake-induced damage to infrastructure. We encourage contributions on seismic performance evaluation, structural health monitoring, damage detection, performance-based design, seismic retrofitting, soil–structure interaction, and resilience assessment. Particular emphasis is placed on recent developments in artificial intelligence, machine learning, digital twins, advanced sensing technologies, and high-fidelity numerical simulations for improving seismic risk assessment and decision-making. By integrating cutting-edge research with practical engineering applications, this collection seeks to promote innovative and sustainable solutions that enhance the safety, resilience, and long-term performance of infrastructure exposed to earthquake hazards.

We welcome original research articles, review articles, case studies, methods, and perspective papers that advance the understanding of earthquake-induced damage and resilience of civil infrastructure. This Research Topic focuses on innovative theoretical, experimental, numerical, and field-based studies addressing current challenges and emerging solutions in earthquake engineering. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

Seismic performance and resilience of buildings, bridges, towers, dams, and lifeline systems.
Earthquake damage assessment, post-earthquake reconnaissance, and rapid evaluation techniques.
- Structural health monitoring and vibration-based damage identification.
- Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data-driven approaches for earthquake engineering.
- Seismic retrofitting, rehabilitation, and strengthening strategies.
- Performance-based seismic design and risk assessment.
- Soil -structure interaction, foundation engineering, and geotechnical earthquake engineering.
- Seismic response of masonry, reinforced concrete, steel, timber, and composite structures.
- Innovative materials and resilient structural systems.
- Digital twins, BIM integration, and smart infrastructure for seismic resilience.
- Earthquake early warning, disaster mitigation, and community resilience.
- Experimental testing, numerical modeling, and validation of earthquake-resistant systems.

We encourage interdisciplinary contributions that bridge research and engineering practice, promoting resilient and sustainable infrastructure in earthquake-prone regions.

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: Earthquake Engineering, Infrastructure Resilience, Seismic Performance, Structural Health Monitoring, Damage Detection, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Seismic Retrofitting, Performance-Based Seismic Design, Earthquake Damage Assessment, Vibration Analysis, Structural Dynamics, Numerical Simulation, Digital Twins, Smart Infrastructure, Structural optimization, Uncertainty analysis, Soil liquefaction, Soil mechanics, Soil-structure interactions

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.