A Coastal/Ocean Engineering Graduate Project: Evaluation of Hurricane Protection Concept

The Galveston Hurricane of 1900 was the most devastating hurricane to impact the United States coastal areas of the Gulf of Mexico with respect to loss of life (8,000-10,000). Half the Galveston buildings were destroyed as a 4.7m surge inundated the island. Island elevations were only 0.9-2.4m above sea level. The engineering feats comprising recovery of the island over the next six years were truly amazing. Every building standing was raised to an elevation of 5.2m above sea level by hydraulic fill. A concrete seawall was constructed to serve as a hurricane barrier (now approximately 16.2km long with six extensions) for the downtown Galveston area. Rapid growth of the Houston/Galveston metropolitan area and Hurricane Ike in 2008 have made the citizens, local governments, and industries acutely aware that a Category 5 severe hurricane surge perhaps six meters plus in elevation such as Katrina or Camille would most likely pose unacceptable threats to life and the rapidly expanding Houston economy. A hurricane protection concept called the Ike Dike has been thrust forward as a means of protecting Galveston Island and the greater Houston metropolitan area from a catastrophic hurricane surge, even more intense than Hurricane Ike or the 1900 Galveston Hurricane. This paper documents graduate student participation in this project. It also includes preliminary results from exploration of this concept with respect to reducing hurricane surge inundation from a catastrophic hurricane to an acceptable level. Results from this project will comprise input to an economic team who will evaluate the economic efficacy of the concept. The graduate student project formulated was for the students to gain experience in investigating surge levels with and without the conceptual project and, most importantly, to gain an appreciation of interdisciplinary teamwork involving both US and international (Netherlands) graduate students and professors. While working under the guidance from professors, four graduate students had key roles in various phases of this high end computational fluid dynamics (CFD) investigation and were key contributors to grid elevations, formulating impact data, analyzing computational output, preparing visuals of the results for project meeting and participating in meetings. Results from the systematic computational investigations of surge level reduction are highly encouraging.