Print Email Facebook Twitter Jamaica Bay Title Jamaica Bay: Flood Risk Reduction System Author Siverd, C.G. Contributor Voorendt, M.Z. (mentor) Faculty Civil Engineering and Geosciences Department Hydraulic Engineering Programme Hydraulic Structures and Flood Risk Date 2014-12-03 Abstract Hurricane Sandy made landfall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States (U.S.) October 29, 2012 as a post-tropical cyclone. With a wind field of approximately 1000 mi (1600 km) and a near 90 degree landfall angle with the coast, the storm generated an 11.6 ft (3.52 m) storm tide above mean sea level (MSL) at the Battery, New York City, and resulted in more than $65 billion in total damage including the U.S. and the Caribbean. With the threat of future sea level rise and the possibility of stronger future storms, implementing flood protection measures in New York City and the surrounding areas is an imperative. This thesis is a response to Hurricane Sandy. It presents a feasible flood risk reduction system for Jamaica Bay, New York City, and a preliminary design for a storm surge barrier to be constructed as a part of this system. This thesis also addresses possible environmental impacts, pollution, and vessel traffic in the bay. Because it is a preliminary design, and due to the time constraints of a MSc. thesis, the design of the storm surge barrier is neither complete nor detailed. Some aspects of the barrier are developed and reasonable assumptions are made for other aspects based on similar past projects. The Jamaica Bay Flood Risk Reduction System (JBFRRS) has been designed to be implemented in three (3) phases with the final phase beginning in 2032. The reason for building the JBFRRS in phases is to decrease the initial costs of the system. The purpose of this phased approach is also to reduce the pollution in the bay and to allow the JBFRRS to adapt to sea level rise as it occurs. Due to the uncertainty of future sea level rise, storm intensity and frequency, an adaptive approach could be the most applicable. It allows some flood protection measures to be immediately constructed while the more expensive elements of the system are under further design. The most significant finding concerning the barrier is that it could be overflown during storm tide events. This is due to the large surface area of the Jamaica Bay basin behind the barrier. This aspect is important because it lowers the height and therefore the costs of the barrier. Vertical lift gates are found to be optimal at this location due to their high reliability, lower costs through repetition, and their ability to allow tidal flow during normal conditions. Piers with shallow foundations along with top and sill beam have been chosen to house the vertical gates. An initial estimate of the costs the JBRRS ranges from $1 billion to $2 billion (2014 dollars). Because the barrier is still in the early design phases, the final costs of the system will differ from this estimate. Subject adaptiveresilience To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:e08ff283-ccd0-4532-a531-89e5172313e5 Coordinates 40.612778, -73.839444 Part of collection Student theses Document type master thesis Rights (c) 2014 Siverd, C.G. Files PDF ChrisSiverd.Civil_Enginee ... Thesis.pdf 27.35 MB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:e08ff283-ccd0-4532-a531-89e5172313e5/datastream/OBJ/view