• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
• /
• v.1 no.1
• /
• pp.13-19
• /
• 2009

The primary objective of this paper is to investigate the dynamic stability and survivability of a four-column classic TLP (tension-leg platform) under less-than-extreme storm conditions where one or more tendons have been lost due to damage or disconnect. The transient responses of the platform and tendon tensions at the moment of disconnection are particularly underscored. The numerical simulation is based on the BE-FE hybrid hull-tendon-riser coupled dynamic analysis in time domain. Compared to the common industry practice of checking the system without a failed tendon in the beginning, the maximum tension on the neighboring tendon can be significantly increased at the moment of disconnection due to the snap-like transient effects, which can lead to unexpected failure of the total system. It is also found that the transient effects can be reduced with the presence of TTRs (top-tensioned risers) with pneumatic tensioners. It is also seen that the TLP cannot survive in the 100-yr hurricane condition after losing one tendon.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.51 no.2
• /
• pp.607-617
• /
• 2019

Global warming and climate change are increasing the intensity of typhoons and hurricanes and thus increasing the risk effects of typhoon and hurricane hazards on nuclear power plants (NPPs). To reflect these changes, a new NPP should be designed to endure design-basis hurricane wind speeds corresponding to an exceedance frequency of $10^{-7}/yr$. However, the short typhoon and hurricane observation records and uncertainties included in the inputs for an estimation cause significant uncertainty in the estimated wind speeds for return periods of longer than 100,000 years. A logic-tree framework is introduced to handle the epistemic uncertainty when estimating wind speeds. Three key parameters of a typhoon wind field model, i.e., the central pressure difference, pressure profile parameter, and radius to maximum wind, are used for constructing logic tree branches. The wind speeds of the simulated typhoons and the probable maximum wind speeds are estimated using Monte Carlo simulations, and wind hazard curves are derived as a function of the annual exceedance probability or return period. A logic tree decreases the epistemic uncertainty included in the wind intensity models and provides reasonably acceptable wind speeds.

• Wind and Structures
• /
• v.28 no.6
• /
• pp.389-404
• /
• 2019

In coastal regions, it is common to witness significant damages on low-rise buildings caused by hurricanes and other extreme wind events. These damages start at high pressure zones or weak building components, and then cascade to other building parts. The state-of-the-art in experimental and numerical aerodynamic load evaluation is to assume buildings with intact envelopes where wind acts only on the external walls and correct for internal pressure through separate aerodynamic studies. This approach fails to explain the effect of openings on (i) the external pressure, (ii) internal partition walls; and (iii) the load sharing between internal and external walls. During extreme events, non-structural components (e.g., windows, doors or rooftiles) could fail allowing the wind flow to enter the building, which can subject the internal walls to lateral loads that potentially can exceed their load capacities. Internal walls are typically designed for lower capacities compared to external walls. In the present work, an anticipated damage development scenario is modelled for a four-story building with a stepped gable roof. LES is used to examine the change in the internal and external wind flows for different level of assumed damages (starting from an intact building up to a case with failure in most windows and doors are observed). This study demonstrates that damages in non-structural components can increase the wind risk on the structural elements due to changes in the loading patterns. It also highlights the load sharing mechanisms in low rise buildings.

• Asian Journal of Innovation and Policy
• /
• v.11 no.1
• /
• pp.110-147
• /
• 2022

Many megacities are exposed to natural hazards such as earthquakes, and when located in coastal regions, are also vulnerable to hurricanes and tsunamis. The physical infrastructures of transportation systems in megacities have become so complicated that very few organizations can understand their response to extreme events such as earthquakes and can effectively mitigate subsequent economic downfalls. The technological advances made in recent years to support these complex systems have not grown as fast as the rapid demand on these systems burdened by population shift toward megacities. The objective of this paper is to examine the risks imposed on and recoveries of transportation systems in megacities as the result of extreme events such as an earthquake. First, the physical damage to transportation infrastructure, loss of the transportation system performance, and the corresponding economic loss from disruptions to passenger and freight traffic is evaluated. Then, traffic flows are re-routed to reduce vehicles' delay due to earthquakes using a microscopic traffic flow simulator with an optimization model and macroscopic terminal simulator. Finally, the economic impact of the earthquake is estimated nationwide. Southern California is regarded as the region of study. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the integrated model and provide what and how to prepare innovative resilience policies of urban infrastructure for a natural disaster occurrence.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.36 no.6
• /
• pp.364-379
• /
• 2022

Coastal communities have been vulnerable to extreme coastal flooding induced by hurricanes and tsunamis. Many studies solely focused on the overland flow hydrodynamic and loading mechanisms on individual inland structures or buildings. Only a few studies have investigated the effects of flooding mitigation measures to protect the coastal communities represented through a complex series of building arrays. This study numerically examined the performance of flood-mitigation measures from tsunami-like wave-induced overland flows. A computational fluid dynamic model was utilized to investigate the performance of mitigation structures such as submerged breakwaters and seawalls in reducing resultant forces on a series of building arrays. This study considered the effects of incident wave heights and four geometrically structural factors: the freeboard, crest width of submerged breakwaters, and the height and location of seawalls. The results showed that prevention structures reduced inundation flow depths, velocities, and maximum forces in the inland environment. The results also indicated that increasing the seawall height or reducing the freeboard of a submerged breakwater significantly reduces the maximum horizontal forces, especially in the first row of buildings. However, installing a low-lying seawall closer to the building rows amplifies the maximum forces compared to the original seawall at the shoreline.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
• /
• 2022.06a
• /
• pp.436-442
• /
• 2022

Hurricanes and tornadoes are the most destructive natural disasters in some central and southern states. Thus, storm shelters, which can provide emergency protections for low-rise building residents, are becoming popular nowadays. Both FEMA and ICC have published a series of manuals on storm shelter design. However, the authors found that the materials for related products in the market are heavyweight and hard to deliver and install; renovations are necessary. The authors' previous studies found that lightweight and high-performance composite materials can withstand extreme wind pressure, but some building codes are designated in wind-borne debris areas. In these areas, wind debris can reach greater than 100 mph speed. In addition, the impact damage on the composite materials is an increasing safety issue in many engineering fields; some can cause catastrophic results. Therefore, studying composite structures subjected to wind debris impact is essential. The finite element models are set up using the software Abaqus 2.0 to conduct the simulations to observe the impact resistance behavior of the carbon fiber composite sandwich panels. The selected wood debris models meet the FEMA requirements. The outcome of this study is then employed in future lab tests and compared with other material models.

• Spatial Information Research
• /
• v.19 no.4
• /
• pp.1-10
• /
• 2011

This research examined relationships between Scientifically Estimated Environmental Risks (SEERs) of floods, hurricanes and hazardous material releases, and household characteristics. This research showed that there were no statistically significant relationships between most of the demographic characteristics (age, household size, tenure at the present home) and SEERs of the two natural hazards (a flood and a hurricane). These results support Drabek's findings (1986) that people tend to underestimate or ignore natural hazards in selecting their residence regardless of age, household size, and house tenure. Educational attainment and yearly household income were positively correlated with hurricane risk, but not with flood risk. By contrast, SEER of hazardous materials was correlated with all demographic characteristics mentioned above. This result may show that those who are relatively poorer and have lower educational level tend to be limited to living in communities more vulnerable to human-made risk.

• Wind and Structures
• /
• v.31 no.1
• /
• pp.21-29
• /
• 2020

The wind field measurement of severe winds such as hurricanes (or typhoons), thunderstorm downbursts and other gales is important issue in wind engineering community, both for the construction and health monitoring of the wind-sensitive structures. Although several wireless data transmission systems have been available for the wind field measurement, most of them are not specially designed for the wind data measurement in structural wind engineering. Therefore, the field collection is still dominant in the field of structural wind engineering at present, especially for the measurement of the long-term and high-frequency wind speed data. In this study, for remote wind field measurement, a novel wireless long-term and high-frequency wind data acquisition system with the functions such as remote control and data compression is developed. The system structure and the collector are firstly presented. Subsequently, main functions of the collector are introduced. Also novel functions of the system and the comparison with existing systems are presented. Furthermore, the performance of this system is evaluated. In addition to as the wireless transmission for wind data and hardware integration for the collector, the developed system possesses a few novel features, such as the modification of wind data collection parameters by the remote control, the remarkable data compression before the data wireless transmission and monitoring the data collection by the cell phone application. It can be expected that this system would have wide applications in wind, meteorological and other communities.

• The Journal of Korean Academic Society of Nursing Education
• /
• v.18 no.3
• /
• pp.424-435
• /
• 2012

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the disaster experience (accidents, education etc) and the concern for disaster preparedness of college students. Methods: This research design was a descriptive study. Data were collected from November 1, 2011 to December 30, 2011 and analyzed by the SPSS PASW statistics 18.0 program. Results: There were statistical significances in major (p<.050), grade(p<.001), and a completed disaster class(p<.001) between general characteristics and concern for disaster preparedness. The major disaster events that occurred from 2003 to 2010 in Korea were the 2007 Taean oil spill (85.4%), the 2003 Daegu subway fire (82.7%), and the 2008 Sungnyemun fire (62.9%). The possible disaster events in Korea were hurricanes, floods, fires (including wildfire), and the shutdown of communication lines. Subjects learned about cardiopulmonary resuscitation (18.2%), first aid for bleeding and fractures (17.8%), a fire drill (14.3%), and an escape drill for an earthquake (14.0%). They wanted to learn the fire drill (11.33%), the escape drill for an earthquake (9.7%), a war drill (9.0%), a disaster confrontation drill on the subway (8.6%), and a fire and explosion evacuation drill (8.4%). Half of subjects were not prepared with emergency supplies for disasters because they thought that a disaster would not occur. Conclusion: It is necessary to develop the disaster educational programs according to subject's demands in Korea.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.27 no.3
• /
• pp.203-217
• /
• 2018

For this study, WRF numerical modeling was performed, using RDAPS information for input data on typhoons affecting the Korean peninsula to produce wind data of 700hPa. RAM numerical modeling was also used to calculate 3-second gusts as the extreme wind speed. After comparing wind speeds at an altitude of 10 m to evaluate the feasibility of WRF numerical modeling, modeled values were found to be similar with measured ones, reflecting change tendencies well. Therefore, the WRF numerical modeling results were verified. As a result of comparing and analyzing these wind speeds, as calculated through RAM numerical modeling, to evaluate applicability for disaster preparedness, change tendencies were observed to be similar between modeled and measured values. In particular, modeled values were slightly higher than measured ones, indicating applicability for the prevention of possible damage due to gales. Our analysis of 3-second gusts during the study period showed a high distribution of 3-second gusts in the southeast region of the Korean peninsula from 2002-2006. The frequency of 3-second gusts increased in the central north region of Korea as time progressed. Our analysis on the characteristics of 3-second gusts during years characterized by El $Ni{\tilde{n}}o$ or La Nina showed greater strength during hurricanes that affected the Korean peninsula in El $Ni{\tilde{n}}o$ years.