Webinar: USCRP Progress Review

JC Dietrich, A Gharagozlou, JF Gorski, TR Fulle. “Coupling of Inlet-Scale Erosion and Region-Scale Flooding Predictions.” USCRP FY18 Academic Award in Progress Review, Web Meeting, 16 October 2019.

Research Image #2: Breaching of Barrier Island

This animation shows the storm-driven dune erosion and breaching on a barrier system. This is part of Alireza’s erosion and breaching modeling research.

News: Connecting Erosion to Flooding

2019/09/26 – NC Sea Grant Coastwatch
XBeach Model Predicts Storm Impacts on Beaches and Dunes

Alireza Gharagozlou (below) is a doctoral student in the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering at NC State University. He studies how to connect predictions of beach and dune erosion to community-wide flooding and serves with Casey Dietrich on NC State’s Coastal & Computational Hydraulics Team. North Carolina Sea Grant has supported their work.

Alireza surveying the beach profile near Hatteras, NC, with RTK-GPS after Hurricane Florence.

2019/04/26 – NC Sea Grant Coastwatch Currents
Model Predicts Storm Impacts on Beaches and Dunes

During storms, strong waves and currents can erode beaches and dunes and create low-lying areas vulnerable to flooding. We use field surveys and a computer model called XBeach to predict this erosion, as well as to understand its interactions with storm-driven flooding of larger regions.

Computer models allow us to see how the storm surge and waves impact the beach over time, and which locations are vulnerable to large-scale damage. Good predictions of such storm impacts help emergency managers take better-informed measures to protect coastal areas. Understanding vulnerabilities also instructs highway access design and residential area planning.

We used the XBeach computer model on more than 30 kilometers of Hatteras Island between Avon and Rodanthe to explore how to connect erosion predictions to larger areas. Could XBeach cover more of the island, yet still provide good erosion predictions at beach and dune scales? And how could we connect erosion predictions to other models for storm surge and flooding?

Presentation: ASCE NC Fall Conference

JC Dietrich, A Gharagozlou, N Tull, CA Rucker, BO Blanton, JG Fleming, RA Luettich, MF Overton. “Forecasting and Mapping of Coastal Flooding during Hurricanes.” ASCE NC Fall Technical Conference, Raleigh, North Carolina, 26 September 2019.

Predictive Multi-Hazard Hurricane Data-Based Fragility Model for Residential Homes

Multi-hazard hurricane data-based fragility models are able to represent multiple predictor variables, be validated based on observed data, and consider variability in building characteristics and hazard variables. This paper develops predictive hurricane, multi-hazard, single-family building fragility models for ordered categorical damage states (DS) and binary complete failure/non-complete failure using proportional odds cumulative logit and logistic regression models, respectively. In addition to their simplicity, these models are able to represent multiple hurricane hazard variables and include variable interactions, thus improving model fitting and damage prediction. Surveys of physical damage in coastal Mississippi following Hurricane Katrina (2005) and high-resolution numerical hindcast hazard intensities from the Simulating WAves Nearshore and ADvanced CIRCulation (SWAN + ADCIRC) models are used as model input. Prediction accuracy is expressed in terms of cross-validation (CV) and evaluated using leave-one-out cross-validation (LOOCV).

Thirty-nine combinations of global damage response variables were investigated. Of these models, six DS and one complete failure model met the evaluation criteria. Maximum significant wave height was the only significant hazard variable for the DS models, while maximum 3-s gust wind speed, maximum surge depth, and maximum water speed were found to be significant predictors for the complete failure model. Model prediction external accuracy ranged from 81% to 87%.

CC Massarra, CJ Friedland, BD Marx, JC Dietrich (2019). “Predictive Multi-Hazard Hurricane Data-Based Fragility Model for Residential Homes.” Coastal Engineering, 151, 10-21, DOI: 10.1016/j.coastaleng.2019.04.008.

Visitors from Johnson C Smith University to CCHT

Fourteen students (and four faculty members) in CRC’s JCSU Summer Research Program visited our Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering. The students shared presentations about their research projects, and then learned about computing- and resilience-related opportunities at NC State. This program is supported by the DHS Coastal Resilience Center of Excellence.

Dr. Dietrich poses with JCSU students and faculty outside of Mann Hall.

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PREEVENTS Project Meeting in Chicago

Several CCHT members visited Chicago to meet with collaborators from Notre Dame on our NSF PREEVENTS project. The meeting was held in the Chicago campus of the Notre Dame College of Business, located on Michigan Avenue in downtown. Despite the great views from the venue, we had a productive meeting!

Johnathan Woodruff, Zachariah Silver, Casey Dietrich, Autumn Poisson, Andrew Kennedy, Amirhosein Begmohammadi, Thomas Sherman, and Dam Wirasaet.

News: Dietrich Promoted to Associate Professor

2019/06/03 – NCSU Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering
Faculty Promotions

We are pleased to announce that we have had several faculty promoted during this year in recognition of their excellent contributions to research and teaching.

Dr. Casey Dietrich was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure. Dietrich, who leads the Coastal and Computational Hydraulics Team has developed computational models that predict storm surge and coastal flooding. He teaches courses in fluid mechanics and coastal engineering.