Vito Guido

In this section the projects done in the summers of  2013, 2014, 2015 ,2017 and 2018 will be highlighted. Tthey all focused on Hurricane Sandy and storm surge protection.

Summer 2013:

On October 29, 2012 Hurricane Sandy devasted the coastlines of New Jersey, New York and Conneticut, inflicting billions of dollars in damage and the loss of life. The project given to the summer interns was to investigate Hurricane Sany by looking at four key points. These points were addressed by dividing the class into four groups with each group assigned one of the four points. The first point was the history of hurricanes, what are they and how do they form, how are they named, worst hurricanes on record. The second point investigated was Hurricane Sandy itself, the loss of life and property due to the hurricane, the economic impact on the affected communities and the response of the Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA) to this natural disaster.The third point was to look at storm surge, what is it and how can communities located in flood zones be protected from it. The fourth point was how can tunnels and subway tunnels be protectd from flooding due to storms such as Hurricane Sandy. In addition, each of the four groups had to come up with a design for either storm surge protection and/or prevention of tunnel flooding.

Summer 2014:

In the fall of 2012 Hurricane Sandy devastated the eastern coastline of the United States inflicting losses in both life and and property. There were two Civil Engineering projects in the summer of 2014, one of which dealt with Hurricane Sandy. The group that choose the Hurricane Sandy project consisted of 12 students. These 12 students were divided into four subgroups of three students each. Each subgroup was given a specific task, which were the history of hurricanes, storm surge protection, Hurricane Sandy and flood protection of tunnels. In addition, each group and to concieve of a storm surge protection system and build a model of their design. The four designs were as follows: flood tanks that would be placed in Jamaica Bay, flap gates (similar to the ones used in Venice) to be placed from Liberty State Park in New Jeresey to the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal in New York, a split boardwalk that would serve as both a flood wall and a breaking wall in Coney Island Brooklyn, New York and a tunnel protection system at Whitehall Ferry Station in Manhattan, New York.

Summer 2015:

Since Hurricane Sandy devasted the coastlines of New Jersey and New York City local, state and federal governments have looked at numerous ways to mitigate the damage from future Sandy type hurricanes. In the Summer of 2015 there were 19 students in the Civil Engineering group. Thes students were divided into five subgroups that looked at five different topics pertaining to hurricanes. One group concentrated on what are hurricanes and how they are named and catagorized. Another group looked specifically at Hurricane Sandy, the damage it caused and the loss in life and property. A third group looked at what storm surge is and how it can be mitigated. While another group looked at tunnell flooding due to storm surge and the possible solutions to this problem. The fifth group looked at the Big U, a project for storm surge protection in lower Manhattan. Each group was then given the task of coming up with a storm surge protection system and to create both a cad drawing and physical model of their design.

Summer 2017:

In the Summer of 2017 there were 19 students in the Civil Engineering group. These students were divided into six subgroups that researched six different storm surge protection systems. The students picked three diverse ares of New York City to protect from storm surge. The areas chosen were the south shore of Staten Island along Father Capadano Blvd., Battery Park in Manhattan, and the Far Rockaways in Queens. Each area was protected by two different storm surge protection systems of the six researched. All three areas were devasted by storm surge from Hurricane Sandy. In addition, the three subgroups each mixed a different batch of concrete and performed the slump test. Six compression cylinders and three beams were prepared, by each subgroup to determine the compreesive strength and flexural strength of the concrete, respectively.

Summer 2018:

In the summer 2018 there were 23 students in the Civil Engineering group. These students were divided into six subgroups who each took a section of lower Manhattan and devised storm surge protection systems for each one. The area researched stretched from the Chelsea Piers on the west to the are between the Manhattan and Williamsburgh Bridges on the east. In addition these isx groups mixed three different batches of concrete. A batch of concrete with no plastic fibers added and two batches of concrete each with a different  plastic fiber. Both cylinders and beams were caste to determine the compressive and flexural strenght of the concrete.