Denver, CO
October 4-6 2022
Eligible for 22 PDHs
Over the last several years there has been a strong move towards incorporating Risk Informed Decision Making as a cornerstone of dam safety programs. These efforts have built on the approaches used by federal dam safety owners (Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Tennessee Valley Authority) and now include utilities and state dam safety programs. In April of this year, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) put into effect new regulations (specifically 18 CFR 12) to require a Level 2 risk analysis (which utilizes semi-quantitative approaches) as part of the comprehensive assessments of dams.
Many PFMA’s have been performed for state- and federally-regulated dams, and as a result of that investment, considerable knowledge has been obtained about vulnerabilities associated with specific dams. The intent of this training is to leverage and improve on the significant investment that has already been made in performing PFMA’s, and use this information to perform semi-quantitative risk assessments (SQRA) for individual dams or dam portfolios. These assessments can then be used as a screening tool to identify PFM’s and overall risks which are not likely to meet Tolerable Risk Guidelines (TRG) based on life safety, and as a prioritization tool for reducing risk, performing additional investigations or studies, or performing quantitative risk assessments.
Speakers
John W. France, PE, D.GE, D.WRE, M. ASCE
Bill Fiedler, P.E.
Mel Schaefer, Ph.D. P.E.
Gregg A Scott, P.E., F. ASCE
Register now via the USSD Learning Center
Eligible for 24 PDHs
Part of the 2022 Fall Workshop Series taking place in person in Denver, CO, Bruce Brand’s “Structural Behavior of Dams” is a 3-day course on Dam Engineering. It is at the same time very theoretical and very practical. Theory is presented and then applied to real-world dam engineering situations. Bruce originally developed the course for FERC engineers, but now is offering it to the dam engineering community.
Classes are small; no more than 12 students.
Target Audience: Experienced engineers, this workshop will not be appropriate for novices.
Topics
Beam Theory with an emphasis on geometric non-linearities
Safety Factor
Loads on Dams
Steady State Hydrodynamic
Uplift
Lateral Earth
Debris
Follower Forces
Seismic Loads
Analysis Methods
FEA Background
Dynamics
Classical
Explicit
Surge Tank Example
Wave Radiating Boundaries
Fracture Mechanics
Rock Mechanics
Case Histories
Arch Dams
Gravity Arches
Slab and Buttress Topics
In addition to instruction, Bruce provides the following software:
2DSTAB Gravity Dam Analysis
TGRIB Taintergate Analysis
VF2D 2 Dim. Non-Linear FEA
ARVAR 3 Dim. Non-linear FEA
DAMGEN Gravity Dam Mesh Generator
ARCHMKR Arch Dam Mesh Generator
Speaker
October 4-5 2022
Workshop is FULL - Click here for Waitlist
Eligible for 16 PDHs
Overview / Learning Objectives
The Dam and Levee Safety industry is in the process of adopting Risk-Informed Decision Making (RIDM) as a framework for identifying and managing risks associated with dams and levees. A core component of RIDM is risk analysis workshops. In these workshops a team of Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), aided by a Facilitator:
1. Consider all the relevant information for a specific dam or levee (drawings, photos, history, studies, etc.) 2. Select the appropriate approach to risk analysis process including additional studies in preparation. 3. Select a team of Subject Matter Experts appropriate for conducting PFMA and SQRA 4. Guide a team in brainstorming and screening PFMs. 5. Guide a team in the proper identification of specific ways in which the dam or levee could potentially fail, known as Potential Failure Mode Analysis (PFMA). 6. Guide a team in estimating the likelihood of a given PFM 7. Guide a team in estimating consequences associated with a given PFM if it were to occur. Consequences typically focus on life safety, but in some cases may also include economic or other considerations. 8. Identify potential actions to address or further study a given PFM
Current best practice is for steps 6 and 7 to be performed using a “blind elicitation” method, which is then followed by discussion to resolve any differences and, if possible, come to consensus on the estimates for likelihood and consequence. If consensus cannot be achieved, the differing estimates and supporting rationales are documented. Depending on the size and complexity of the dam or levee, these risk analyses may take anywhere from a few days to several weeks to complete.
Key roles of the Facilitator in the risk analysis workshop include:
• Ensure an organized, efficient presentation of relevant information to the SMEs including sufficient data is available. • Encourage focused, constructive, and respectful discussion • Encourage engagement from all SMEs • Identify and advise SMEs if the proceedings are being impacted by cognitive errors (e.g., recency bias, anchoring)
This course, Fundamentals of Facilitating a Semi-Quantitative Risk Analysis (Training), will provide: Training in the fundamentals of facilitating a semi-quantitative risk analysis (SQRA), including instruction in the facilitator’s roles and responsibilities, and the essential facilitation skills, tools, and behaviors of a risk facilitator. In addition, examples, exercises, and breakout sessions will be provided where attendees will have an opportunity to try out these techniques and tools.
Intended Audience Dam engineering professionals with experience in potential failure modes analysis and risk analysis who are seeking training to serve as a facilitator for SQRA. Those seeking approval from FERC, USACE, or TVA to facilitate an SQRA will need to have attended this or similar training. In addition, it is highly recommended that attendees have been through the USACE/Reclamation Best Practices in Dam and Levee Safety Risk Analysis training and the USSD Workshop, Leveraging PFMA for Semi-Quantitative Risk Analysis. It is generally assumed that individuals who attend this training also have at least 10 years of experience in dam and levee safety and have served as subject matter experts in a risk analysis in one or more of the major disciplines of geotechnical/geological engineering, structural engineering, hydrology and hydraulics, hydraulic structures/gates, or other.
Jonathan Harris
Jennifer Williams
October 4 - 5, 2022
Several Federal agencies and dam and levee owners have made significant efforts over the years to better understand and quantify the risk of their dam and levee portfolios. The dam and levee safety community is relatively familiar with potential failure mode analysis and estimating failure likelihoods, but there is less familiarity with estimating the consequences of failure. Quantifying consequences can be done in varying levels of detail and there are several tools available to perform these estimates, one of which is the US Army Corps of Engineers Risk Management Center's software, LifeSim. LifeSim is designed to simulate the entire warning and evacuation process for estimating potential life loss and direct economic damages resulting from catastrophic floods.
The workshop will highlight how LifeSim was developed to effectively support reduction of life safety risks associated with flooding; evaluate existing and residual risks against tolerable risk guidelines; calculate life loss and economic damages; understand life loss dynamics associated with floods; and create or improve existing emergency action plans (EAPs).
Workshop Objective:
The purpose of the workshop is to provide an overview of dam and levee safety risk assessment activities and consequence estimates used within the decision-making process at all levels, specifically using LifeSim, a software tool for estimating economic damages and life loss.
Joanna Leu
Paul Risher
October 6, 2022
Eligible for 8 PDHs
Static liquefaction has been in the spotlight of different technical communities as it has been associated with numerous recent failures of tailings storage facilities (e.g., the 2019 failure of Dam I at the Corrego de Feijao mine in Brumadinho, Brazil) and water reservoir dams (e.g., the 2020 failure of Edenville dam in Michigan). Similarly, earthquake-induced liquefaction has caused major damage to earth dams and other infrastructure (e.g., slope deformation of Lower San Fernando dam during the 1971 San Fernando earthquake, failure of the Tapo Canyon dailings dam during the 1994 Northridge earthquake, and flow slide of the Las Palmas tailings dam during the 2011 Maule earthquake).
This 1-day workshop will discuss core concepts of static and cyclic liquefaction relying on the critical state soil mechanics framework and outline how static and cyclic liquefaction assessments are incorporated in the design of dam systems. Towards this end, hands-on exercises and practical examples will be used to illustrate state-of-the-art techniques to assess static and dynamic liquefaction.
Workshop objectives
Outline the state-of-the-art in the assessment of static and dynamic liquefaction.
Introduce practical tools for assessing static and dynamic liquefaction.
Introduce emerging directions to advance the assessment of static and dynamic liquefaction.
Specific benefits participants will take away:
The state-of-practice and state-of-the-art techniques to assess static and dynamic liquefaction.
How to estimate properties for static liquefaction assessment using hands-on exercises.
How to use the CPT-based information to assess liquefaction triggering and consequences.
Numerical-based techniques to assess static and dynamic liquefaction, including a hands-on exercise.
Jorge Macedo, Ph.D., PE.
Dr. Jonathan Bray
Dr. Scott Olson
April 17 - 21, 2023
Infrastructure Resiliency Through Risk Management
Join USSD and colleagues in beautiful Charleston, SC at the North Charleston Embassy Suites.
Call for Papers Opens May 12, 2022
Abstracts Due July 7, 2022
Dam and levee professionals are invited to submit abstracts addressing the conference theme and other technical topics.
Abstract acceptance or rejection notices will be sent on 9.1.2022. For those that are accepted, draft papers or expanded abstracts will be due 10.24.2022.
Abstract Submission Site: https://catalyst.omnipress.com/ussd_2023
Technical Program Chair: Ed Toms, AECOM
Technical Program Vice-Chair: Aimee Corn, Gannett Fleming
Conference Email: 2023conference@ussdams.org
United States Society on Dams13918 E. Mississippi Ave #61160, Aurora, CO 80012
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