Part I: Extreme Wind Speed, Sea Level Rise, and Flood Load on Waterfront Facilities
Workshop Background
Coastal areas, including Navy shore facilities, are subjected to more frequent extreme events due to climate change. These extreme events occur within a short period of time (e.g., a hurricane only lasts a few hours or days) and may recur several times during a typical design lifetime of 25, 50, or 75 years. Currently, the extreme design loads are treated as rare events in the Unified Facilities Criteria (UFC) without taking into account the effects of climate change, such as the increased frequencies and intensities of wind and storm/flood loads. In addition, the local or regional effects of climate change have not been addressed by the current UFCs.
To inform recommendations for a performance-based, climate-ready UFC, Naval Facilities Engineering and Expeditionary Warfare Center (NAVFAC EXWC), in partnership with university experts and the American Society of Civil Engineers' Coasts, Oceans, Ports, and Rivers Institute (ASCE COPRI), is currently investigating non-stationary extreme design loads affected by climate change, including extreme wind speed, sea level rise, and coastal flooding, to evaluate the risk-based and life-cycle performance of waterfront structures as well as the corresponding facilities and infrastructure planning strategies for resilient operations.
Workshop Objectives
This workshop will gather leaders from industry, government agencies, and academia in the areas of structural design loads, climatic hazards, and facilities and infrastructure resilience planning. The objectives of the workshop are threefold: 1) review available data on effects of climate change on structural safety and infrastructure performance; 2) explore performance-based upper and lower bound limits for assessing lifetime safety and operations continuity of waterfront facilities; and 3) propose recommendations for updating UFCs.
Part I of the workshop will focus on developing non-stationary extreme wind speeds, sea level rise, and flooding load on waterfront facilities, while Part II (to be held in 2024) will exclusively involve life-cycle costs and performance-based resilience planning for waterfront structures and infrastructure systems. Our intention is that this effort will further quantitative life-cycle performance metrics, incorporating environmental issues in design practice, influencing the development of structural design codes and standards, and enhancing the state of the nation’s infrastructure to help protect the safety of the public, enrich the quality of life, and improve the resilience of our waterfront communities.
Project Team
- Ming Liu, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE
Principal Investigator - Omar Jaradat, Ph.D., P.E., D.PE, M.ASCE
Co-Principal Investigator - Yue Li, Ph.D., M.ASCE
- Bruce R. Ellingwood, Ph.D., P.E., NAE, F.SEI, Dist.M.ASCE
- Dan M. Frangopol, Sc.D, P.E., F.EMI, F.SEI, Dist.M.ASCE
- Mark G. Stewart, Ph.D., FTSE, FIEAust, FIAPS, FRSN
- Lisa M. Scola, Aff.M.ASCE
- Tom Chase, M.ASCE