Conference proceeding
Geotechnical Consequences and Failures in Puerto Rico Due to Hurricane Maria
Geo-Congress 2020: Engineering, Monitoring, and Management of Geotechnical Infrastructure, pp 173-185
01 Jan 2020
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
At landfall in Yabucoa, Puerto Rico, on September 20, 2017, the National Hurricane Center classified Hurricane Maria as a strong Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale. This paper summarizes the geotechnical impacts and consequences from Maria, documented by the Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance (GEER) team sent to the island in its aftermath. The intense rainfall and strong winds associated with Maria directly or indirectly resulted in over 3,000 fatalities, severe infrastructure loss, over 40,000 landslides, and considerable coastal erosion in Puerto Rico. Hurricane Irma preceded Hurricane Maria by two weeks and this paper addresses the importance of antecedent rainfall and geomorphology on the magnitude of damage. Geotechnical impacts described in the paper include coastal erosion events, bridge abutment scour, the impact of debris flows on the island's highway system, and foundation failures. The geotechnical failures presented in our article provide insight on the likely modes of failure when major hurricanes affect slopes that have been pre-soaked and are thus especially vulnerable to geotechnical failures. Since global warming will likely increase the intensity and frequency of extreme events like Hurricane Maria, understanding the impacts and aftermath of Maria in Puerto Rico should assist the engineering community in addressing geotechnical vulnerabilities, as well as improve design and construction practices, to improve resiliency.
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Details
- Title
- Geotechnical Consequences and Failures in Puerto Rico Due to Hurricane Maria
- Creators
- Francisco Silva-Tulla - GeoEngn & Environm, Lexington, MA 02421 USAMiguel A. Pando - Drexel UniversityDaniel Pradel - The Ohio State UniversityYoungjin Park - University of North Carolina at CharlotteRobert Kayen - University of California, Berkeley
- Contributors
- J P Hambleton (Editor) - Northwestern UniversityR Makhnenko (Editor) - University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignA S Budge (Editor) - Minnesota State University, Mankato
- Publication Details
- Geo-Congress 2020: Engineering, Monitoring, and Management of Geotechnical Infrastructure, pp 173-185
- Conference
- Geo-Congress 2020 (Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, 25 Feb 2020–28 Feb 2020)
- Series
- Geotechnical Special Publication; 316
- Publisher
- American Society of Civil Engineers
- Number of pages
- 13
- Grant note
- NSF; National Science Foundation (NSF) U.S. National Science Foundation; National Science Foundation (NSF) CMMI-1266418 / GEER program - NSF through the Geotechnical Engineering Program
- Resource Type
- Conference proceeding
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000565228200017
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85081953581
- Other Identifier
- 991019170119704721
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Construction & Building Technology
- Engineering, Geological