![]() ![]() That does not mean a structure will not sustain damage. ![]() As with earthquakes, you are designing to minimum code requirements for structural integrity and life-safety. Speak up about what you are knowledgeable about and what areas of the project warrant additional consultants. V zones are Coastal High Hazard Areas – essentially, they are areas of high energy flooding with wave action.) A coastal engineer expert in modeling storm events, wave runup, scour depth, and calculation of pressures may also be a team member you will want. Do your foundations constitute an impermissible obstruction in a V zone? (“V” stands for velocity. Are you practicing in your area of competence? If you have never designed a foundation subject to scour or had to calculate wave forces, are you comfortable going it alone? What about a submerged basement design what should the design water table be based on, flooding or groundwater? The project’s geotechnical engineer can provide crucial guidance on erodibility, liquefaction potential, and soil permeability and its effect on the design water table for a flood event.The FIRMette is also a rough double-check that the civil engineer is showing any flood boundaries and flood elevations accurately on the site plan. It is easy to print an 8½ x 11 excerpt of the flood map showing the property you are interested in – called a “FIRMette.” The printout is free and only takes a few minutes once you have the property location. The current FIRM for a given property can be accessed on FEMA’s Map Service Center website, free of charge, either using the street address or latitude/longitude ( ). Flood prone areas for a community are delineated on a series of Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs) published by FEMA. Pull up a flood map for every project.Hurricane Irene barrels towards coastal buildings in Fairfield, CT, August 2011. Moreover, an emergency management plan for your firm is time well spent to make sure your clients are taken care of following a disaster, and your business can operate. Beyond that, structural engineers need to understand the business practice issues associated with such projects, including client evaluation, assessing the risk/reward curve, and knowing when to ask for help or pull the plug. Such projects require an understanding of the technical engineering issues involved with the site topography, geology, sources of flooding, and how wind and water will affect the proposed building structures and foundations. Most structural engineers will, at some point, take on a project that involves designing a building located in a flood zone. Although I had been engineering structures in flood zones for many years by then, when you are personally and professionally affected by storm damage, it makes a lasting impact. All the while, calls were coming in from clients to evaluate the damage to their buildings. My home and office were without power for several days. Long before Cheryl’s “she-shed” was struck by lightning… my shed was destroyed by a rotted oak tree blown over during Hurricane Irene. Business Practice Tips for the Structural Engineer ![]()
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