HISTORY OF THE TECHNICAL COUNCIL ON COLD REGIONS ENGINEERING
ASCE's Technical Council on Cold Regions Engineering (TCCRE) was established on July 20, 1979, to identify, assess and report on effects of cold region environments upon engineering design, construction and operations and to make recommendations for advancement of scientific knowledge and practice in engineering solutions of cold regions problems. Cold Regions includes all areas affected by frost or temperatures below 0 degrees C.
Activities of TCCRE over the years have included sponsorship of a successful series of specialty conferences on cold regions engineering, sponsorship of sessions at the ASCE national conventions, and generation and publication of a landmark series of state-of-the-practice cold regions engineering monographs. In addition to these, TCCRE has its own journal (ASCE's Journal of Cold Regions Engineering) since 1985.
TCCRE Past Council Chairs:
| Year | TCCRE Chair |
|---|---|
| 1979-80 | A. J. Alter |
| 1980-81 | R. N. Dillon |
| 1981-82 | D. R. Frietag |
| 1982-83 | F. L. Bennett |
| 1983-84 | D. W. Smith |
| 1984-85 | C. W. Lovell |
| 1985-86 | T. T. McFadden |
| 1986-87 | W. L. Ryan |
| 1987-88 | R. G. Tart |
| 1988-89 | H. P. Thomas |
| 1989-90 | R. D. Crissman |
| 1990-91 | R. J. Hodek |
| 1991-92 | A. L. Burwash |
| 1992-93 | T. G. Krzewinski |
| 1993-94 | A. C-T. Chen |
| 1994-95 | B. D. Alkire |
| 1995-96 | L. L. Barber-Wiltse |
| 1996-97 | E. G. Johnson |
| 1996-97 | M.A. Linthwaite |
| 1998-99 | J.E. Zufelt |
| 1999-00 | D.W. Smith |
| 2000-01 | J.R. Woodward |
| 2001-02 | T.S. Vinson |
| 2002-03 | W.L. Ryan |
| 2003-04 | D.J. Prusak |
| 2004-05 | D.C. Esch |
| 2005-06 | R.G. Tart |
| 2006-07 | J.B. Bergman |
Adjusted for actual expenditures, annual Council budgets since FY '83 are as follows:
| Year | Annual Budget ($) |
|---|---|
| FY '83 | 10,000 |
| FY '84 | 16,400 |
| FY '85 | 18,309 |
| FY '86 | 19,159 |
| FY '87 | 32,093 |
| FY '88 | 34,219 |
| FY '89 | 22,158 |
| FY '90 | 29,173 |
| FY '91 | 22,049 |
| FY '92 | 22,458 |
| FY '93 | 25,164 |
| FY '94 | 23,252 |
| FY '95 | 23,940 |
| FY '96 | 22,412 |
| FY '97 | 13,376 |
| FY '98 | 14,100 |
| FY '99 | 17,600 |
| FY '00 | 14,500 |
| FY '01 | 21,850 |
| FY '02 | 16,500 |
| FY '03 | 13,500 |
| FY '04 | 18,000 |
| FY '05 | 20,900 |
| FY '06 | 22,900 |
| FY '07 | 20,850 |
| FY '08 | 22,950 |
The dollar figures do not include activities of the TCCRE Publications Committee which are funded separately. TCCRE's funding peaked at $34,219 in FY '88 and held strong through FY '96, despite institution of performance-based budgeting with progressively-decreasing base funding starting in FY '95.
Data on the nine successful International Cold Regions Engineering specialty conferences and two additional specialty conferences held to date are as follows:
| Year | Venue | No. of Attendees | Surplus (Loss) | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | Anchorage | 300+ | ||
| 1981 | Seattle | 161 | $4000 | |
| 1984 | Edmonton | Est. $2000* | Coop. w/CSCE | |
| 1985 | San Francisco | 400 | Coop. w/ the Waterway, Port, Coastal and Ocean Division of ASCE | |
| 1986 | Anchorage | 257 | $31,000 | |
| 1989 | St. Paul, MN | 93 | ($4,000) | |
| 1991 | Hanover, NH | 207 | $18,093 | |
| 1994 | Edmonton | Est. $2000* | Coop. w/CSCE | |
| 1996 | Fairbanks | 224 | ($8,538) | |
| 1997 | Anchorage | 352 | ($14,785) | "ISCORD" conf. (133 foreign attendees) |
| 1998 | Duluth, MN | 259 | ||
| 2000 | ||||
| 2002 | Anchorage, AK | 225 | $14,000 | |
| 2004 | Edmonton | >200 | NA | CSCE Conference |
| 2005 | Anchorage, AK | 900+ | NA | Part of the EWRI Congress |
| 2006 | Bangor, ME | (10,000) |
TCCRE has cooperated with a variety of groups within and outside of ASCE at putting on these conferences. We have a particularly strong ongoing cooperation with the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering (CSCE). In fact, at 10—year intervals, two of the conferences have been held in Canada under the lead sponsorship of CSCE, but with active input from TCCRE. Numerous other groups (including ASCE's Geotechnical Division) have cooperated with putting on our conferences. Attendance at TCCRE's specialty conferences has typically been about 250 attendees. In 2005, TCCRE participated in the EWRI Congress in Anchorage, AK. TCCRE developed and managed an environmental cold regions track at the Congress. The next TCCRE conference is scheduled for Bangor, Maine in July 2006.
As can be seen from the following table, TCCRE has also participated actively in many of the ASCE national conventions, especially those which have been held in the Northern Tier states. ASCE has changed its approach to having technical sessions at National Conferences. Starting in 2005, the ASCE Conference in Los Angeles, CA will no longer have technical sessions during the two-day conference. Instead, technical groups and Institutes will be encouraged to develop symposiums or full conferences at the front-end or the back-end of the 2-day ASCE National Conference.
| Year | Place | No. of TCCRE Sessions | Cooperating Groups |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Portland, OR | 1 | |
| 1981 | New York, NY | 1 | |
| " | St. Louis, MO | 1 | |
| 1982 | Las Vegas, NV | 1 | |
| " | New Orleans, LA | 2 | |
| 1983 | Houston, TX | 1 | |
| 1984 | San Francisco, CA | 1 | |
| 1984 | San Francisco, CA | 1 | |
| 1985 | Denver, CO | 1 | |
| " | Detroit, MI | 4 | |
| 1986 | Boston, MA | 1 | |
| 1988 | Nashville, TN | 4 | |
| 1990 | San Francisco, CA | 1 | |
| 1991 | Orlando, FL | 1 | |
| 1993 | Dallas, TX | 2 | w/TCFE |
| 1994 | Atlanta, GA | 1 | w/TCFE |
| 1997 | Minneapolis, MN | 6 | 2 w/Geo Institute and 1 w/ International Activities Committee |
| 1998 | Boston, MA | 2 | |
| 1999 | Charlotte, NC | 0 | |
| 2000 | Seattle, WA | 1 | |
| 2001 | Houston, TX | 0 | |
| 2002 | Washington, DC | 0 | |
| 2003 | Nashville, TN | 0 | |
| 2004 | Baltimore, MD | 0 |
Prior to 1989, ASCE held two national conventions per year. TCRRE's participation in the 1997 Minneapolis national convention exceeded that at any previous convention. In addition, TCCRE has sponsored numerous sessions at other conferences including International Permafrost Conferences held in the US (Alaska), Norway and China, an ASCE Education Specialty Conference in 1980, the "Fourth Canadian Permafrost Conference" held in Calgary, Canada in 1981, an SPE Arctic Technology Conference held in Anchorage in 1991, an OMAE (ASME) Conference held in Canada in 1992, a "Frost in Geotechnical Engineering" Symposium held in Anchorage in 1993, an ISCORD Symposium held in Anchorage in 1997 (with 352 attendees, including 133 foreign), and at Winter Cities conferences held in Montreal, Anchorage and Upper Michigan. Just recently, TCCRE sponsored a cold regions track at the EWRI Congress held in Anchorage, AK in May 2005.
Available historical data from 1992 to the present for the Journal of Cold Regions Engineering (established in 1985) are as follows:
| Year | Papers Published | Percent Approved | No. of Pages |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | 11 | 24 | 171 |
| 1993 | 12 | 80 | 130 |
| 1994 | 10 | 100 | 139 |
| 1995 | 12 | 67 | 240 |
| 1996 | 13 | 60 | 210 |
| 1997 | 20 | 69 | 240 |
| 1998 | 13 | 80 | 222 |
| 1999 | 13 | 50 | 222 |
| 2000 | 16 | 50 | 232 |
| 2001 | 11 | 93 | 238 |
| 2002 | 13 | 82 | 230 |
| 2003 | 10 | 40 | 189 |
| 2004 | 8 | 60 | 180 |
| 2005* | 6 | 67 | 60 |
| 2006 | |||
| 2007 |
Including the popular and distinctive blue-and-white, state-of-the-practice monograph series, and a list of TCCRE publications together with available sales figures:
| Title | Total Copies Printed | Total Copies Distributed |
|---|---|---|
| Arctic Coastal Process and Slope Protection | 807 | 536 |
| Civil Engineering in the Arctic Offshore | 1012 | 835 |
| Cold Regions Construction | 1047 | 791 |
| Cold Regions Engineering 4th Conference | 1029 | 892 |
| Cold Regions Engineering 5th Conference | 741 | 373 |
| Cold Regions Engineering 6th Conference | 811 | 433 |
| Cold Regions Hydrology and Hydraulics | 630 | 449 |
| Design for Ice Forces | 1032 | 1032 |
| Frost Action and its Control | 1046 | 885 |
| Research on Transportation Facilities in Cold Regions | 818 | 528 |
| Road & Airport Pavement Response Monitoring Systems | 760 | 469 |
| Embankment Design Considerations in Cold Regions | 846 | 498 |
| Thermal Design Considerations in Frozen Ground Engineering | 993 | 777 |
| Freezing and Thawing of Soil-Water Systems | 1061 | 1007 |
| Cold Regions Engineering 8th Conference | 573 | 322 |
| Cold Regions Utilities Monograph | 939 | 1830 |
| Roads & Airfields in Cold Regions | 627 | 335 |
| Introduction to Cold Regions Engineering | 500 | 335 |
| Freezing and Thawing of Soil-Water Systems | 1061 | 1007 |
| Thermal Analysis, Construction | 500 | 481 |
| Permafrost Foundations | 500 | 388 |
| Frost Action and its Controls | 500 | 456 |
| New and Unconventional Foundations | 500 | 121 |
| Innovative Design and Construction for Foundations and Substructures Subject to Freezing and Frost | 500 | 440 |
| Innovative Design and Construction for Foundations and Substructures Subject to Freezing and Frost | 500 | 440 |
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