SBIR Phase II: Telescopic Structural Flood Walls

Smart Walls Construction Llc, Buffalo NY

Investigators

Abstract

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is aimed to develop and commercialize an extendable/retractable telescopic structural wall for flood protection. This technology will enable more resilient infrastructure in flood-prone areas. Coastal cities and riverine communities are vulnerable to flooding hazards. These population centers tend to be located near bodies of water, and finding the space to accommodate increasing populations, as well as hazard-resilient infrastructure, represents a challenge for city officials and the engineering community in general. The commercial opportunity of the technology lies on the increasing worldwide need for flood protection. In fact, the World Bank estimates that 50 billion dollars a year will be spent worldwide in measures to mitigate this hazard. In U.S. only, floods are considered one of the costliest and deadliest natural hazards with an estimated 7.9 billion dollars in damages and 82 fatalities per year. This technology, when developed, will provide a paradigm shift for the prefabricated concrete industry. It will also develop and validate new methods for telescopic interconnection of structural elements. The intellectual merit of this project lies in a unique concept where structural boxes, made out of fiber reinforced concrete, can be deployed telescopically to withstand forces imposed from external sources, and then return to a retracted position. In Phase I, the feasibility of the concept was demonstrated by the ability of specimens to withstand the forces from three flooding scenarios representative of the targeted market sector: riverine, storm-surges and tsunamis. The Phase II project will focus on assessing the technical features of the walls based on lead-off customer sites. These will include the height of the walls, type of soil, and the hazard assessment, among others technical factors. Studies will be conducted on the local and overall structural response of the walls and the functionality of their mechanical components. Analytical and numerical models will be built and validated with tests on specific components and on full-scale models. The full-scale specimens will be subjected to storm-surges, hurricane, tsunami, slow-rising waters, and impacting debris forces. Robust theoretical framework along with analytical and numerical models and design guidelines will be built to reliably scale and replicate the technology for virtually any site where flood protection is needed.