I-Corps: Sustainable Optimization of Circular Economy Practices During Post-Disaster Recovery Phase

Florida International University, Miami FL

Investigators

Abstract

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of technology which provides knowledge to support stakeholders and decision makers take astute and engineered decisions during the disaster recovery phase. In the United States, the market size of building demolition and deconstruction exceeds $7 billion per year. On the other hand, the market size of the Natural Disasters and Emergency Relief Services industry is approximately $14 billion. This research provides technologies to advocate new policies and management strategies that can empower impacted communities by ensuring a faster and more sustainable recovery, providing employment opportunities to underrepresented minority groups who become extremely vulnerable to poverty and homelessness, particularly post-disasters, and offering a paradigm shift to utilize circular economy practices during a post-disaster recovery phase. This I-Corps project is based on the development of technology to help decision-makers make informed decisions to determine the time required to disassemble building components, predict the amount of waste generated in the process, and estimate the dollar salvage value of the recovered components. To achieve this goal, the research activities will adopt multiple technologies including using LiDAR technology to assess the reconstruction site and any damages, cracks, deformation, or defects in building components, use databases and ASP.NET web applications to determine disassembly time, waste produced, and value of recovered materials, and apply machine learning and predictive modeling to automate the deconstruction process. This technology will be developed by leveraging approaches and technologies from multidisciplinary fields of knowledge from civil engineering, programming, and disaster management. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.