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Risk Analysis and Uncertainty in Flood Damage Reduction Studies
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Reducing flood damages is a complex task that requires multidisciplinary understanding of the earth sciences and civil engineering. In addressing this task, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers employs its expertise in hydrology, hydraulics, and geotechnical and structural engineering. Dams, levees, and other river works must be sized to local conditions; geotechnical theories and applications help ensure that structures will safely withstand potential hydraulic and seismic forces; and economic considerations must be balanced to ensure that reductions in flood damages are commensurate with project costs and associated impacts on social, economic, and environmental values. Many flood damage reduction projects involve the construction of levees. The Corps's historical approach to coping with hydrologic and hydraulic uncertainties of large floods was based on a best estimate of the levee height required to withstand a given flood, which was then augmented by a standard increment of levee height called “freeboard.” The best estimate has traditionally been based on the expected height of a design flood (e.g., a 100-year flood, the magnitude of which has a 1 percent chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year, and which is here called the “1% flood”). Freeboard was then added above the expected height. Many Corps flood damage reduction projects used a standard of 3 feet of freeboard. “Three feet of freeboard” became an engineering tradition within the Corps and was employed in hundreds of Corps flood damage reduction studies and projects.
0-309-56982-6
NONE
Management
English
2000
1-217
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