Hurricane engineering is a specialist sub-discipline of

civil engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewa ...

that encompasses planning, analysis, design, response, and recovery of civil engineering systems and infrastructure for

hurricane A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

hazards. Hurricane engineering is a relatively new and emerging discipline within the field of civil engineering. It is an integration of many recognized branches of engineering, such as

structural engineering Structural engineering is a sub-discipline of civil engineering in which structural engineers are trained to design the 'bones and muscles' that create the form and shape of man-made structures. Structural engineers also must understand and cal ...

wind engineering Wind engineering is a subset of mechanical engineering, structural engineering, meteorology, and applied physics that analyzes the effects of wind in the natural and the built environment and studies the possible damage, inconvenience or benefits ...

coastal engineering Coastal engineering is a branch of civil engineering concerned with the specific demands posed by constructing at or near the coast, as well as the development of the coast itself. The hydrodynamic impact of especially waves, tides, storm surges ...

, and

forensic engineering Forensic engineering has been defined as ''"the investigation of failures - ranging from serviceability to catastrophic - which may lead to legal activity, including both civil and criminal".'' It includes the investigation of materials, produc ...

, with other recognized sciences and planning functions such as,

climatology Climatology (from Greek , ''klima'', "place, zone"; and , ''-logia'') or climate science is the scientific study of Earth's climate, typically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of at least 30 years. This modern field of study ...

, oceanography,

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

, emergency management and preparedness, hazard mitigation, and hazard vulnerability analysis. Hurricane engineering aims to minimize risks to human safety, the natural and built environment, and business processes. As a result of the tremendous threats to life safety and economic disruptions caused by the 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons, governmental organizations, such as the United States

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National ...

, have recognized the need to better understand hurricane threats and further establish this discipline. In September 2006, the

National Science Board The National Science Board (NSB) of the United States establishes the policies of the National Science Foundation (NSF) within the framework of applicable national policies set forth by the President and the Congress. The NSB also serves as an ind ...

released recommendations to the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

calling for major new investments in hurricane science and engineering. Accredited university engineering programs, such as the

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

civil engineering department and

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...

Department of Civil Engineering and Geological Sciences, are establishing programs to better understand these catastrophic storms and their interaction with the environment. The LSU Hurricane Center has begun to offer hurricane engineering courses with the focus of educating students on the unique threats caused by hurricanes. In the Northwest Pacific, where the term for strong tropical cyclones is

Typhoon A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for a ...

, the concept of Typhoon Engineering, which is very similar to Hurricane Engineering, is being proposed. The past two decades have witnessed exponential growth in damage due to hurricanes and the situation continues to deteriorate. The most vulnerable areas, coastal counties along the Gulf and Atlantic seaboards, are experiencing greater population growth and development than anyplace else in the country. If the trend of rapidly increasing losses caused by hurricanes is to be reversed, a whole new philosophy of understanding, planning, and preparedness is required. The Hurricane Engineering curriculum is the result of a multidisciplinary project aimed at giving engineering students a comprehensive understanding of the hazards associated with hurricanes: *Extreme winds *Windborne debris *Storm surges *River flooding *Rain-induced landslides

References

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External links

NSF Hurricane Engineering and Science Recommendations

American Society of Civil Engineers: papers and articles about hurricane analysis, response and mitigation

LSU Hurricane Engineering curriculum development

Environmental engineering {{tropical-cyclone-stub