Research Initiation Award: Development and Study of an Implicit Model for Rapid and Accurate Simulation of Hurricane Storm Surge

Tennessee State University, Nashville TN

Investigators

Abstract

Research Initiation Awards (RIAs) provide support for junior faculty at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) who are starting to build a research program, as well as for mid-career faculty who need to redirect and rebuild a research program or need to build a research program. It is expected that the award helps to further the faculty member's research capability and effectiveness, improves research and teaching at the researcher's home institution, and involves undergraduate students in research experiences. Tennessee State University(TSU)'s project is multidisciplinary combining engineering and computational sciences to develop rapid storm surge simulation models. The project's objectives are to develop and study an implicit storm surge model for rapid and accurate simulation by: (1) parallelizing the implicit storm surge model developed by the principal investigator, and (2) benchmrking the model performance and accuracy against that of explicit surge models. The expected outcomes of the project are described as (1) a new understanding of the performance and accuracy of the implicit solver in storm surge modeling and (2) a novel storm surge model capable of simulating surges rapidly and accurately. Past hurricane data, including data from Hurricane Katrina, will be used for benchmarking. An efficient implicit storm surge model will be a valuable contribution to the coastal engineering community. This investigation is expected to transform current storm surge modeling and add valuable insight into multidisciplinary hands-on engineering education as follows: a) The study will address a long-standing engineering question - 'how feasible are the implicit solvers for storm surge modeling?' b) An implicit solution technique will establish a computational benchmark for similar problems, such as flood models. c) The research and education plans will prepare a unique workforce from underrepresented communities ready for multidisciplinary global challenges. d) The educational approach and assessment will be significant since the study is based on a genuine challenge. The approach will strongly support the curriculum overhaul effort at Tennessee State University (TSU) and is expected to serve as a model for other HBCU institutes. Through this project the potential for a storm surge research community and multidisciplinary, authentic educational ecosystem is established at TSU. This project builds the foundational knowledge for future investigations. The research and education plans are synergistically integrated. The project activities promote retention and engage capable underrepresented minority undergraduate students, encouraging higher level study. Summer activities are designed to attract talented high school students to engineering education. The educational objective is to prepare a new generation of well-rounded minority engineers to take on multidisciplinary global challenges. The objective is achieved by providing a learn-by-doing experience to the students within an ecosystem of multidisciplinary education to address a real global challenge - hurricane storm surges. Students will have the opportunity to enroll in a project-based computer course. The expected outcomes are a novel educational approach and a new generation of well-rounded minority engineers with the knowledge and cognitive skills to undertake multidisciplinary global challenges. The education plan will be assessed using established frameworks.