Airport infrastructure risk to liquefaction by deploying multi-modal data and remote sensing

Abstract

Airports are critical components of transport infrastructure, contributing to regional socioeconomic vitality and serving as key hubs for emergency response during natural disasters. However, their operations are highly vulnerable to geohazards such as earthquake-induced soil liquefaction and associated ground failures. Despite this vulnerability, there is currently a lack of rapid, regionally scalable tools for assessing liquefaction-related risks specific to airport infrastructure. This paper for the first time in the literature addresses this gap by introducing a practical, geomorphology-informed methodology for the preliminary identification of liquefaction-prone areas and the rapid assessment of risk to airport infrastructure. The proposed approach leverages multimodal data, including surface geological mapping, tailored remote sensing inputs, and established seismic risk models, to develop liquefaction susceptibility maps and estimate potential damage. The methodology is applied to a real-world airport case study under a representative seismic scenario, revealing that large sections of the runway and taxiways are situated on highly susceptible soils. The HAZUS methodology is employed to assess potential losses and is validated using data from three international airports that have experienced documented liquefaction-related damage. This study provides a novel, scalable, and cost-effective framework that can be applied globally to support airport operators, risk engineers, and insurers in rapidly identifying vulnerable zones, prioritizing inspections, and developing targeted mitigation strategies. It contributes to advancing geotechnical risk assessment by bridging regional-scale mapping with infrastructure-specific vulnerability analysis. The methodology has the potential to be extended and applied to other critical infrastructure—such as ports, highways, railways, and industrial facilities—located in areas susceptible to liquefaction.