T.H. Wu Lecture - 2014
Multi-hazard Geo-Risk Assessment, with a Focus on Long Linear Structures such as Earthen Levees
By Dr. Erik Vanmarcke, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Princeton University
Abstract
Multi-hazard risk assessment is especially relevant for spatially distributed systems such as levees, when seeking to allocate limited resources to different 'segments' comprising a long linear 'lifeline' (or a network of such lifelines). To demonstrate an approach based on random field concepts, we assess the risk of sliding of long earth slopes, dams or levees. The stochastic model predicts the 'most likely width' of the failure zone and enables evaluating the mean rate of increase in the 'system failure' risk per unit length.
Biographical information
Dr. Erik Vanmarcke is a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Princeton University. He was on the faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) until 1985 since receiving his doctorate there in 1970. He was appointed to the Gilbert W. Winslow Career Development Chair in 1974 and became a full professor in 1978. He held appointments, during sabbatical leaves, at Harvard University, Delft University (in The Netherlands), and the University of Leuven in his native Belgium. He was Shimizu Corporation Visiting Professor at Stanford University and Kwanghua Chair (Visiting) Professor at Tongji University (Shanghai, China).
He was the founding editor of the international journal Structural Safety. He received the Raymond C. Reese and Walter Huber research prizes of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and the Distinguished Probabilistic Methods Educator Award of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). He also won a Senior Visiting Scientist Award from the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science; was awarded the 2012 Alfred M. Freudenthal Medal from the Engineering Mechanics Institute; and was elected to the 2013 Distinguished Membership class of ASCE.
Dr. Vanmarcke was elected (foreign) member of the Royal Academy of Sciences and the Arts of Belgium. He chaired the Executive Committee of ASCE's Council on Disaster Risk Management (CDRM), and committees on engineering risk assessment of the Geo-Institute and the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI). He was a member of a committee on the Safety of Federal Dams appointed by President Carter's Science Adviser, and of two US National Research Council (NRC) committees on dam safety, chairing a subcommittee on risk assessment.
An expanded edition of his book Random Fields: Analysis and Synthesis (originally: M.I.T. Press, 1983) was published in 2010 by World Scientific Publishing Company. The methods of probabilistic modeling based on random fields, described in the book, have been applied in many areas of science and engineering, and in particular in advanced risk and reliability assessment in geotechnical, earthquake and wind engineering.
One (1) PDH credit will be offered for attending the entire lecture and a certificate will be provided. This lecture is free, and preregistration is encouraged. Reserve your space by contacting Carol Scott at scott.30@osu.edu or (164) 292-3533.
Location of the Scott Laboratory: http://www.osu.edu/map/building.php?building=148
Parking available at Tuttle Park Place Garage: http://www.osu.edu/map/building.php?building=088