Risk-Based Analysis
By U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
To Be Evaluated

A RiskWorld news brief by Lorraine S. Abbott, editor
E-mail to: abbott@tec-com.com

In recent years the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ studies of flood-damage reduction projects has moved toward a risk-based analysis (RBA), which is similar to traditional approaches but allows uncertainties in the fundamental data to be quantified and explicitly included in the evaluations of project performance. Design decisions thus incorporate and reflect the uncertainties inherent in the data underlying the analysis.

An 18-month review and assessment of the Corp’s use of the RAB technique has been initiated by the National Research Council’s Water Science and Technology Board, which is assembling a committee of experts from the disciplines of engineering, hydrology and hydraulic engineering, decision sciences, and economics to perform the work. The committee will hold its first meeting before year end.

For more information on the assessment, called "Risk Based Analysis for Flood Damage Reduction Studies," contact the study director, Jeffrey Jacobs, Water Science and Technology Board, National Research Council, 2101 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20418, Telephone (202) 334-3422. (Note: This summary was based on an article published in National Hazards Observer, Vol. XXIII, No. 1, September 1998, page 9.)

 

Posted September 14, 1998.

Go to:

  • RiskWorld News Department

  • RiskWorld Home Page

  • Tec-Com Inc.

    • Copyright © 1998 by Tec-Com Inc.