Latin American and Caribbean Consortium of Engineering Institutions

Conference Track:  Sustainable Engineering

Keywords:         vulnerability, risk assessment, water distribution, emergency management, disaster planning

Contact Title:     Dr.

Contact First Name: Berrin

Contact Last Name:  Tansel

University:       Florida International University

Web:

Position:         Associate Professor, Civil and Enviornmental Engineering

Country:          USA

Email:            tanselb@fiu.edu

Fax:              (305) 348 2802

Paper Title:

VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENT ALGORITHM FOR REDUCING RISKS DURING WATER DISTRIBUTION

Berrin Tansel, Florida International University, USA

Abstract:

The severity of the effects of a disaster may vary according to susceptibility of a community to damage.  The damage is often defined in terms of life and/or property. Risk assessment is a systematic process used to identify, describe sources, causes and consequences of a risk.  Its purpose is to provide information to decision makers in a way to allow comparisons of different risk reduction alternatives and associate those alternatives with costs.

The magnitude of risk depends on a combination of factors such as awareness of hazards, the land use and infrastructure conditions, public policy and administration, the wealth of the given society, and the level of organization for disaster and risk management.  The extent of interdependency of the lifeline systems plays a significant role on the vulnerability of a community as one or more systems begin to fail leading to a domino effect.  Planning for disaster preparedness is a comprehensive effort that involves establishment of goals in relation to communities' needs for the lifeline systems.  As the demographic and land use characteristics of a community change, the environmental goals and their relative significance for the community also change.

Lifeline systems are those facilities that provide the main utility or transportation services to a community.  The lifeline systems may include electric power transmission and distribution, natural gas transmission and distribution, potable water transmission and distribution, wastewater transmission and treatment, highways, seaports and inland waterway, air transportation and telecommunication facilities.  The lifeline vulnerability analysis (LLVA) developed in this study is a flexible, risk based approach which can be used to develop strategies to minimize risks of system failure for water distribution systems.  This risk-based approach incorporates the important hazard elements into a framework to estimate a set of vulnerability priority numbers (VPN) that can be used for risk management and decision-making.  The LLVA can be used for can be periodically revised for updating the system risks.  The periodic upgrades in the system can be incorporated into the system evaluation and the sequential improvements in the risk factors can be incorporated into the risk analysis.  The risk analysis algorithm was used to evaluate the vulnerability of the components of water distribution systems (i.e., buried pipes, pump stations, storage tanks and electrical and mechanical equipment) and a series of vulnerability priority numbers were developed for different types of water distribution systems for comparative risk analysis, assessment relative risks, and assessment of interdependence of key elements which may result into domino effect consequences.

Mailing Address: 

Florida International University

Civil and Environmental Engineering Department

EC 3676

Miami, FL 33174

USA 

Phone:  (305) 348 2928 

Authors: 

Berrin Tansel / tanselb@fiu.edu / Florida International University/ (P)