Pilkington is how communities recover from natural or manmade disasters like floods or fires. In this case, the potential complete shutdown of an economically important waterway could have devastating effects on the people near it.
In partnership with the CSU NIST Center for Risk-Based Community Resilience, Pilkington is building a resilience model that could be applied to many communities, and that takes into account the interconnected threads of civil structures, economic and sociological impacts. The carbon fiber retrofits Mahmoud’s group is testing could play a key role in bolstering a community’s resilience.
“If a retrofit can withstand a disaster, you can still have that transportation sector, which ties into your economic survival,” she said.
