As a heat wave grips Europe, lingering high temperatures expose the vulnerability of buildings and infrastructure. Roads in Germany buckled. Trains were canceled in France. People are grappling with how to cool down the buildings that were designed to trap heat in cooler climates. Meanwhile, large portions of the United States are set to experience their own heat wave with triple-digit temperatures over the July 4 holiday weekend. Can its infrastructure withstand this extreme heat?
Buildings and infrastructure are designed with materials that can handle certain temperature ranges, said Nancy Varney, associate teaching professor in Northeastern University’s Civil and Environmental Engineering Department. The susceptibility depends on how much exposure they face. Take bridges, for example. Directly exposed to the elements, they are generally built with strong materials such as steel and concrete that expand with heat and contract with cold temperatures, Varney said. To account for these movements, expansion joints are incorporated into the design. If temperatures start to exceed what the infrastructure was built to handle, as the world faces increasing and extended spats of high heat, it may cause failures or disruptions.
