Forum on Civil Engineering and Hurricane Katrina
The Civil and Environmental Engineering Department will hold a on aspects of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. The forum will address the evacuation challenges, levee failures, meteorological dynamics and structural damage related to the hurricane.
Four faculty members, experts on various facets of the hurricane and its aftermath, will speak:
*Paula Rees will give an overview of hurricane dynamics, including the key components resulting in the loss of life and property. She will compare Katrina to other big hurricanes, discuss the rainfall rates and causes of flooding specific to Katrina and discuss the factors that influence the severity of hurricanes. Among her other research on flooding, Rees was part of a Princeton University team that conducted an analysis of the fundamental physical processes that control the hydrology and hydraulics of extreme floods.
*Michael Knodler will speak about issues associated with evacuating a major city such as New Orleans and the impact of Katrina on the transportation system throughout the Gulf Coast and beyond. He will also address what transportation professionals can learn from the New Orleans experience and what they should do to ensure an adequate level of preparedness in the future. Knodler is an expert on transportation engineering for the campus-based Massachusetts Traffic Safety Research Program.
*Carlton Ho will examine the levee breaks that sent floodwaters pouring into 80 percent of the city of New Orleans. Ho will discuss the soil dynamics of such levees, the pressures placed on them by storm surges, and what engineers can learn from the levee failures in New Orleans. Among his other areas of expertise, Ho studies soil mechanics, soil liquefaction, movement of unstable slopes and hazard analysis of slopes.
*Sergio Brena will address the structural damage observed during the disaster and possible causes of the damage, such as water surge and wind. He will also cover the current design philosophy of structures in hurricane regions. Brena is an expert on the rehabilitation of damaged structures, including bridges and buildings, made from concrete.
The forum is free and open to the public.