Engineering Out Loud

What is Oregon doing to prepare for earthquakes, tsunamis, and wildfire? Researchers at Oregon State University are working with the state Legislature to help them make informed decisions about how to prepare for natural hazards.

BONUS CONTENT:

• "A Song for Japan" project

Japan 2011 Earthquake

• Japan quake: Infrastructure damage will delay recovery. BBC News, March 17, 2011
• Mar 11, 2011 CE: Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami, National Geographic
• 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami: Facts, FAQs, and how to help, World Vision

Earthquake and tsunami

• Oregon Resilience Plan, Supporting documents
• Oregon should make itself resilient for a big quake, by Yumei Wang, Jay Raskin and Edward Wolf, The Oregonian, Jan. 9, 2011.
• Will the Cascadia Earthquake be the Worst Disaster North America's Ever Seen? | Weathered (PBS Terra video)
• Partners Preparing for the Big One, S4E5, Engineering Out Loud
• The Tsunami Could Kill Thousands? Can They Build and Escape?
• OSU Newport facility built vertically for earthquake, tsunami (KOIN)
• Oregon State University president affirms decision for new marine studies building location
• Preparing for an Earthquake, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Wildfire

• Senate Bill 762
• Oregon's work to minimize wildfires gets a boost from federal legislation, Oregon Capital Chronicle, November 17, 2021
• As Oregon's wildfire season fades, new approaches to managing risk need to take hold, Oregon Capital Chronical, October 6, 2021.
• Spreading like Wildfire: The Rising Threat of Extraordinary Landscape Fires, United Nations report.
• Protect your Property from Wildfires, Federal Emergency Management Agency

https://engineering.oregonstate.edu/season-11-engineering-natural-hazard-impacts/preparing-for-natures-worst

Can plants fortify Oregon's coastal dunes against storm surge? Meagan Wengrove, assistant professor of coastal and ocean engineering, built scale versions of dunes in one of the world's largest wave flumes to find out.

BONUS CONTENT:

• Protecting coastal regions with natural defenses
• New faculty members bring expertise in wave energy, structural and coastal engineering
• Four College of Engineering faculty win early-career investigator awards

https://engineering.oregonstate.edu/season-11-engineering-natural-hazard-impacts/dune-erosion-solutions-s11e7

After a major disaster, hidden amid the rubble and debris are precious clues about the extreme forcesstructures were subjected to, and exactly what caused them to fail. How can researchers collect this perishable data before it's swept away? Michael Olsen, professor of geomatics and technical director of the NHERI RAPID Facility, talks about a major effort to get crucial technology into the hands of reconnaissance experts quickly, wherever disaster strikes. https://beav.es/URn

• RAPID Facility website
• Natural Hazards Reconnaissance with the NHERI RAPID Facility (Frontiers in Built Environment)
• A new laser-toting disaster lab aims to save lives by saving data (Fast Company)

https://engineering.oregonstate.edu/season-11-engineering-natural-hazard-impacts/rapid-reconnaissance-capturing-data-aftermath-disaster-s11e6

What will it take for Oregon to recover after a magnitude 9.0 Cascadia subduction zone earthquake? Among other things, it will need a major airport to receive the tons of relief supplies from around the world. Prof. Armin Stuedlein and a research team from Oregon State University conducted crucial testing that guided engineers with big plans to make sure one of the runways at Portland International Airport survives the shaking.

• Video: Blast-induced liquefaction tests at PDX
• Preparing for an earthquake
• Cascadia Lifelines Program

https://engineering.oregonstate.edu/season-11-engineering-natural-hazard-impacts/saving-pdx-s11e5

Wildfires that devastate mountain communities have the potential to foul the water distribution system running underneath residential structures. But knowing which water pipes have been affected is challenging. Erica Fischer, assistant professor of structural engineering, is working with a team of engineers and scientists to develop and test sensors that can easily indicate if water pipes need to be replaced following a fire.

• Oregon State University fire expert panel: Oregonians' mindset needs to expect, accept wildfires
• Science Pub: Fires in the West
• Study of destructive California fire finds resilience planning must account for socially vulnerable

https://engineering.oregonstate.edu/season-11-engineering-natural-disasters/what%E2%80%99s-water-after-wildfire-s11e4

How do engineers fight wildfires? With fire. David Blunck, associate professor of mechanical engineering, is trying to better understand and predict the behavior of embers that spread blazes. To do this, he has to burn a few of his own.

• Firebrands: How to protect your home from wildfires' windblown flaming debris, by David Blunck (The Conversation)
• National Fire Protection Association's Firewise USA website

https://engineering.oregonstate.edu/season-11-engineering-natural-hazard-impacts/burning-learn-s11e3

What happens to bridges, buildings, and pipelines when the soil holding them up behaves like a liquid? Ben Mason, associate professor geotechnical engineering, has traveled the world doing post-earthquake reconnaissance to find out and make us better prepared for impending earthquakes.

• At Work: Ben Mason (Seismological Society of America)

General Information

• Cascadia Subduction Zone (Oregon.gov)
• Earthquake Hazards (USGS)
• Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance Association (GEER)

Op-eds

• Napa earthquake argues for better education in Oregon: Guest opinion (Oregonian)
• Education is our best ally for earthquake and tsunami preparedness (Gazette Times)

News articles

• A Pacific Northwest Earthquake Could Cause Thousands of Landslides (Newsweek)
• Earthquake study could make Pacific Northwest safer (Tillamook Headlight Herald)
• Napa quake spurs advice for earthquake preparedness in Oregon (quiz) (Oregonian)

https://engineering.oregonstate.edu/season-11-engineering-natural-disasters/when-earth-moves-s11e2

The long-feared 9.0 magnitude Cascadia subduction zone earthquake, which seismologists say is inevitable, will damage or destroy large swaths of Oregon's electrical grid. How long will it take to get the juice flowing again? Weeks? Months? Professor Ted Brekken and his team are applying high-powered simulations to find out and to identify which parts of the system should be hardened against the quake at any cost.

• Oregon Resilience Plan
• NSF Award: Earthquake Resilience of the Western Power Grid
• Powering Back up in the Aftermath of the Big One

https://engineering.oregonstate.edu/season-11-engineering-natural-disasters/day-lights-go-out-oregon-s11e1

How do you manage a COVID-19 surge? When intensive care units are beyond capacity, health care workers are stretched thin, and life-saving equipment is in short supply, there are a lot of tough choices to be made, and quickly. Joe Agor, assistant professor of industrial engineering, is gathering the data on how hospitals prepared and responded to the pandemic, as well as how their patients fared, with the goal of helping to better manage surge capacity for future pandemics or disasters.

https://engineering.oregonstate.edu/season-10-pandemic-puzzles/documenting-surge-s10e5

How can we get a more diverse group of young people interested in computer science? Focus on equity, says Jill Hubbard, instructor of computer science and co-principal investigator of a multi-university project to change how computer science is taught in high school, funded by the National Science Foundation. Over 40 schools are part of a program to make computer science more welcoming to underrepresented groups.

• Website: Computer Science for All in Oregon

• Video: Democratizing Computer Science at Oregon State

• Story: Changing course

https://engineering.oregonstate.edu/changing-culture-computer-science-education-s10e4