Because of the significance of offshore, coastal, and port facilities to the economical survival of a given region, the ability to cope with all aspects relative to safety and damage due to hurricanes and earthquakes and resulting storm surges and possible tsunamis has become a pressing responsibility of the engineering profession. To sustain safe operations, secure environmental quality, and maintain efficient utilization of resources, a distinct knowledge of the interactive forces of these natural disasters and the expertise necessary to develop mitigating measures are needed.

Criteria and procedures used in the design and reassessment of offshore, coastal, and port facilities may differ greatly from their onshore counterparts.

These differences can arise due to the unique distribution of mass and stiffness, to the fluidstructure and windstructure interactions, to the placement of foundation elements in or on soft or fully saturated soils, and to lack of specific environmental data or the experience that has been developed for most onshore site or structures.

The need to mitigate damage from wind and earthquakes, as well as associated storm surges and tsunamis, through shared technologies, research, information sharing, and cooperative work is well known. These hazards may cause serious disasters along coastal regions.

The objective of this workshop was to provide an international forum to exchange technical information and insight that will help engineers and public policy makers improve their ability to better mitigate and regulate damage to offshore, coastal, and port facilities due to extreme wind and seismic effects and possible resulting storm surges and tsunamis.

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Last Updated: 05/29/2008, 12:40 PM