Tsunami Resisting Structure Design

Tsunami Resisting Structure Design Tsunami waves Abstract: In the past Lebanon has experienced some major earthquakes and tsunamis. Kids are taught at school that Lebanons capital Beirut was buried 9 times because of these catastrophic events. However, other than manmade disasters, modern situation has been calm and this small Mediterranean country has been tsunami free for quite some time. Unfortunately studies show that this situation will not remain as calm in the future and that the Lebanese coast is in danger of re-experiencing these waves. In this paper the historic Tsunami activity around the world will be reviewed and evidence shall be given on why this event will strike Lebanon after 1500 years of absence. In addition, the behaviors and characteristics of tsunamis will be presented, how they start and how they destroy and by knowing the effects they have on buildings and the damages they cause to their elements, we are able to design a structure with the purpose of resisting these loads. The aim of this study is to design a Tsunami Resisting Structure in accordance with the current guidelines and complying with the existing Standards and Codes, that is expected to provide safe refugee from Tsunami and earthquakes. An example shall be given and the applied loads shall be calculated in the following pages. Introduction: It is said in the bible that the Lord told Noah that a flood of waters shall be brought upon the Earth to destroy mankind, both man and beast shall drown (Genesis 6:17). Tsunamis have been happening since the beginning of time, in the past as well as in our days when that event occurred, as part of evacuation technique or simply by instincts for survival people try to escape by going inland or trying to reach higher altitudes. But the wave hits the land with great energy and speed that basically trying to race it horizontally is practically impossible and most casualties that happen during a tsunami is when people try to flee the coast and move inland to higher altitudes. In some areas an evacuation is not possible in time and the best chances people have is through a vertical evacuation by moving upwards to higher levels in a tsunami resisting structure. (FEMA P646A, 2009) The idea of a vertical evacuation structure came to be after the tragic Sumatra earthquake and Indian Ocean tsunami in December 26, 2004. 300,000 lives were lost in the boxing day tsunami (Christian Meinig et al.,2005), and that number would have been so much worse if Reinforced Concrete Structure did not act as shelters for survivals. (FEMA P646A, 2009) We learnt from past events, and if a concrete multistory house was able to resist, even it was temporarily, even if it was for a short term, then a structure can be designed to withstand Tsunami as well as earthquakes, because in most cases, these two hazards are connected. Definition: The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) explain tsunami as: A Tsunami is a naturally occurring series of ocean waves resulting from a rapid, large-scale disturbance in a body of water.). They can be caused by either volcano eruption under water, or earthquake or landslides etc. (FEMA P646A, 2009). When they travel in the ocean the waves and fast but short in height, but when they reach the coast, the waves gain in height. It was believed that a number of events led to these oceanic waves however after the study of past events it was concluded that the major cause for tsunami generations was due to tectonic movements. Katsuyuki Abe in his publication Tsunami and Mechanism of great earthquakes explains the relationship between these waves and earthquakes. Katsuyuki Abe said: tsunamis are generated by tectonic deformations rather than by large submarine landslides and slumps. (Katsuyuki Abe, 1972). When tectonic plates are active, plate deformation induces seismic activity that cause earthquakes (Stein and Klosko, 2002) and The source of the tsunami/earthquake can be tracked back to its origin by analyzing the arrival date of the first wave to the shore. The boxing day 2004 Tsunami went down in history as the deadliest tsunami, with more than 230,000 casualties across 14 countries The earthquake triggering the tsunami was of magnitude 9, the most powerful earthquake in 40 years (ABC news, 2014). With its epicenter located at the Sumatra coast, between 2 tectonic plates, the Indian plate and the Burma plate. The two plates were so stressed that the earthquake happen when the Indian plate slipped under the Burma plate. (Sudhir et al., 2005) Tsunami in Lebanon No matter where we read or heard it, whether it was in the findings and studies published by the National Council for Scientific Research, Beirut, Lebanon or National Center for Geophysics, Lebanon or even in the August issue of the journal Geology 2007 or National Geographic News or Discovery News channel or the local newspapers, the context were the same: It is just a matter of time before a destructive tsunami hits this region. An underwater survey placed Lebanon near an active fault that could generate an earthquake in the seafloor causing a devastating tsunami in the region. Elias Ata and colleagues researched that the same fault that was responsible for the strongest earthquakes in the Mediterranean is active and is in danger of producing a tsunami wave just like it did thousands of years ago in the 551 A.D. tsunami in Phenecia now known as Lebanon (Elias et al, 2007). They confirmed the presence of fresh seismic breaks in the sea floor and argued that the Mount Lebanon thrust is identified as repeated earthquakes with 1500 years of return. Since the last earthquake was in 551 A.D. with an active fault line and a 1500 recurrence period, an earthquake in water is bound to happen any day now, and a tsunami will hit the entire Lebanese coast from north to south. Fortunately complying with the Lebanese building code for construction and design is deem to satisfy conditions for earthquake and seismic analysis, but the law does not impose tsunami design to developers and consultants and the idea of a tsunami resisting structure or a vertical evacuation model was somehow absurd in the region. However now that we have solid proof of a predicted tsunami, that idea doesnt look absurd anymore. Structural system A basic concept design of a Tsunami/Earthquake proof structure follows a number of consideration and guidelines. After observing past events, we can conclude that the major element that contributes to the survival of houses was the material used. While most small residences in Australia are timber and lightweight systems or even brick veneer and load bearing wall system, the most robust model that can resist important horizontal or vertical loads is reinforced concrete and or Steel structures. Multistory building are heavier and thus can prevent sliding when horizontal action is applied and because above levels are not submerged they aid to resist lateral loads. Another key component is Orientation, when buildings are constructed in a direction parallel to the ocean, the wave will have a greater surface of contact, and therefore the lateral force will hit the plan faà §ade with the lowest inertia. When they are built perpendicular to the ocean, the contact surface is smaller and the pressure will act upon a direction of highest inertia.   An ideal design is to not resist entirely the wave and have the structure with 800mm thick reinforced concrete wall. It must be a combination between a robust design combined with weak members. In other word, the wave should pass through the building, without causing the collapse of above stories. In order for the wave to flow though the ground level, non-load bearing walls have to breakaway to make passage for the wave. These breakaway walls are masonry block walls, they collapse once struck by the wave.   (FEMA TB9, 99) How vulnerable Structures are? Observation to partially damaged houses indicated that all elements can fail under tsunami load. Foundation can be uplifted and soil can be scoured. Columns can be sheared causing one story collapse or leading to progressive collapses of all upper levels and impact force can completely dislocate columns. Beams can be bent lateraly due to horizontal action and were majorly cracked. Joints connecting two elements, such as vertical support with slab and foundation can fail entirely. Shear and bending failure in walls have been detected, and punching shear where an axial element punches through a plan system was observed as well. However studying only the elements that failed is not enough; engineers must also consider the components that survived. For instance, it was that facades that had openings such as windows and doors did not crumple as opposing to sides there were completely closed and thus have been ruined by the wave. Calculation example This example consists of determining the actions caused by a tsunami on a structure of 2 basements, parking of area 1800 m2 each, Ground Level , Mezzanine and ten stories. The site is located 200 m from the shoreline, at elevation 5 m from the sea level near Beirut, Lebanon Elevation profile indicating the different slopes and location of the structure, taken from Google  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Earth 3D The slope of the terrain is essential to determine the wave parameters, specially height. The Federal Emergency Management Agency FEMA, has set guidelines to design structure from tsunami waves, FEMA P646 and FEMA P646A, 2005 shall be demonstrated in the below paragraphs to calculate all the loads generated on our structure. But first we need to determine the waves properties. A tsunami wave is defined by its inundation elevation R*, with is the height of the wave at its maximum penetration. Given the topography of our project, the wave will reach the steep slope and retrieve back, thats 510m from the shore. To determine the height, we will assume that the height is 10m Tsunami Loads As per FEMA P646A, 2005 8 forces are acted upon the structure: Hydrostatic, Buoyant, Hydrodynamic, Impulsive , Debris impact, Debris damming and Uplift forces, not to mention Additional gravity loads from retained water on elevated floors. Hydrostatic force in the basement is when the water from tsunami is retained in the basement, and cannot escape because the basement wall outline prevent seepage, the water is trapped and the basements are compared to water reservoirs since the two basements are completely filled with water. A static analysis on reservoir will therefore be conducted with water height 12m (=6m+8m) Fluid density à Ã‚ s = 1.2 à Ã‚ water = 1200 kg/m3 pc is the hydrostatic pressure, pc = à Ã‚ s.g.h pc (at GL ) = à Ã‚ s. h = 1200 x 8 = 9.6 T/m2 pc (at 1st Bas. ) = à Ã‚ s. h = 1200 x (8+ 3) = 13.2 T/m2 pc (at 2nd Bas.) = à Ã‚ s. h = 1200 x (8+6) = 16.8 T/m2 Buoyant Force The uplift force as per Archimedes principle is as follow: The reinforced concrete has a specific gravity of 2.5 T/m3, in our case the slab isnt a solid slab but made of hollow blocks with self weight equal to 0.63 T/m2 Specific gravity of a 32 cm slab of hollow blocks is = 1.97 T/m3 Water has a specific gravity of 1.2 T/m3 When immersed in the water the slab wont weight the same actuality it would weigh less due to the fact it has a buoyant force acting upward making it lighter. And so in water, the specific gravity of the slab will become 1.97 T/m3-1.2 T/m3 = 0.77 T/m3 If we take into consideration the thickness of the slab 32 cm it becomes   0.77 T/m3 x 0.32m = 0.246 T/m2 The buoyant pressure decreased the specific gravity of the slab from 0.63 T/m2   to 0.246 T/m2 so it must be equal to 0.63 T/m2   0.246 T/m2 = 0.384 T/m2 The buoyant force will be applied upwards as uniform surface load 0.384 T/m2 acting on floors of  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   1stBasement, Ground level, Mezzanine and first floor.

My First Day of College :: Autobiography Essay, Personal Narrative

â€Å"College is nothing but high school with ashtrays.† My friend Ron left me with this original piece of advice before I left for college on August 30th. In the weeks following, this clichà © would seem prophetic. It would not, however, be accurate today. It was September 1st, and I was officially a college freshman. All my dreams were to be realized. The halls would be paved with intellectuals, and the walls would be plastered with philosophers. State College was my Ellis Island. It would be a far cry from my high school, whose halls were paved with punks and whose walls were plastered with simpletons. The entire student body would be eager to debate and discuss the Bible, politics, philosophy — everything that I love to talk about. â€Å"State College is Plato’s academy reincarnated,† I thought to myself as I kicked and hopped my way into my left pant leg. No one could convince me otherwise. All of these things were true. They had to be: this is colle ge. No nervous stomach, no second thoughts — just an anxious heart. By 10 p.m. on August 31st, I was in bed. â€Å"You are going to be ready on Wednesday,† I said to myself. Granted, my first class did not start until eleven, and I had not gone to sleep earlier than two in the morning all summer. But I felt as if I had to be in bed by ten. Time always seems to be the tortoise when you want it to be the hare. That was one of the many thoughts taking refuge in my mind as the clock ticked past 11:59 p.m. As the first hour began, I lay motionless on my bed of rocks. During this time, I became eerily familiar with my new ceiling. Its flawed construction, rippled paint, and simple off-white hue comforted me. These otherwise unnoticeable imperfections reminded me of home. Earlier that month, I exclaimed to my mother how eager I was to escape from the penitentiary that I called home, and now I was having nostalgic thoughts about it. I laughed at the glaring irony and slowly drifted to sleep. By 10:45 a.m., I joined the procession of pupils on my way to my first college class. Uniformity among the masses seemed like one of the many luxuries that freshmen were not deemed worthy to have. (Kindness from most upper-classmen was one of the others that stood out on that day.

Disrespecting an Nco

Why I should not disrespect an NCO and the consequences I am writing this essay because I disrespected a non commissioned officer. I do apologize for what I did and have said. I have learned from my mistake and I see why I am to do this essay and that is to show that disrespecting a non commissioned officer will not be tolerated and two give clear understanding of the impact that disrespecting a Non Commissioned officer has on others.For many reasons the Non Commissioned Officers keep the moral up and motivate soldiers and encourage them to do their very best and showing disrespect to the NCO’s not only lowers moral, it also makes it to where the NCO thinks less of the person and lowers the person’s creditability. There is a possibility of Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) actions taken against the soldier. With the UCMJ the soldier could lose rank, lose pay, have to pull extra duty, getting    discharged, or even getting jail time depending on how bad or sever the violation is.It could also cause the soldier not to have a chance to exceed or grow as a soldier or a leader such as go to schools, warrior leader’s course, or even the promotion board. If the disrespect is by jumping the chain of command or the NCO support channel then it would get others in conflict. Non Commissioned Officers are literately the backbone of the military even as it says in the NCO creed. The NCO’s do countless jobs that are not totally acknowledged.Sometimes non commissioned officers help soldiers in many ways and sometimes do not require acknowledgement except to see the soldier strive to success. But the influence of disrespecting NCO’s and the consequences is something everyone should be aware of. For many reasons the Non Commissioned Officers keep the moral up and motivate soldiers and encourage them to do their very best and showing disrespect to the NCO’s not only lowers moral, it also makes it to where the NCO thinks less of th e person and lowers the person’s creditability.There is a possibility of Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) actions taken against the soldier. With the UCMJ the soldier could lose rank, lose pay, have to pull extra duty, getting    discharged, or even getting jail time depending on how bad or sever the violation is. It could also cause the soldier not to have a chance to exceed or grow as a soldier or a leader such as go to schools, arrior leader’s course, or even the promotion board. If the disrespect is by jumping the chain of command or the NCO support channel then it would get others in conflict and that could possibly be disrespectful to an NCO. In closing, If you want to be treated with respect by your non commissioned officer you should always watch what you say and how you say it and be mindful of your actions cause it could land you in hot water.

The Newly Developed Multinational Personnel Selection System

Question 1: What strengths and what shortcomings do you see in the newly developed multinational personnel selection system? The company recognizes that there are problems in the existing personnel selections, so they delegated the committee to address the problem. The new selection shows promise as it improves the the old selection process. Some of the strengths include: †¢ â€Å"6-eye-method†: This â€Å"6-eye-method† is the newly developed process where three people will be analyzing the qualifications and suitability of the applicants. Compared with the old assessment conducted by external consulting firms, this ensure reliability and credibility as the firm can find candidates that they are actually looking for. This preliminary selection allows the recruiters to focus more on the knowledge, skills, abilities, and others (KSAOs) of the applicants. As people have different judgments and opinions, this provides a just screening of the candidates without any biases or prejudices involved. Although time consuming and costly, this process ensures that all potential and promising candidates will have higher chance of being selected. †¢ Phone interviews: This method has been proven to be very cooperative and beneficial to many recruiters. Since this is considered as the first direct contact with the applicant without incurring any travel expenses. In addition, the phone call can encourage the applicant to listen to a question and respond it in their respective time and manner.Show MoreRelatedâ€Å"Development of a Multinational Personnel Selection System† Discussion Questions1204 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"Development of a Multinational Personnel Selection System† Discussion Questions 1. 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