The presentation will provide an overview of some results of forensic engineering field investigations conducted by the author, following the 2004 Indian Ocean (Thailand, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka), the 2010 Chile Tsunami, as well as the 2011 Tohoku Tsunami. During these field investigations, extensive amounts of post-disaster data has been measured, analyzed and described. A comprehensive experimental program was conducted in the Tsunami Wave Basin at the Coastal Engineering Laboratory at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan, as well as in the Hydraulic Laboratory at the University of Ottawa.
This experimental model employed the use of “smart” debris equipped with wireless motion sensors capable of tracking their motion and acceleration. The presentation will also touch on a critical overview of the current prescriptions related to the design of critical infrastructure against debris loading.
Dr. Ioan Nistor is a Professor of Hydraulic and Coastal Engineering in the Department of Civil Engineering of the University of Ottawa, Canada, and Associate Vice-Provost Graduate Studies of the same University. He is researching hazards associated with extreme hydrodynamic and debris loading on infrastructure and is a Voting Member of the ASCE Tsunami Effects and Loads Committee and of Working Group 5 (Debris) of the Japan Society of Civil Engineers (JSCE). He is also a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE), Engineers Institute of Canada (IEC) and of the Canadian Society of Civil Engineering (CSCE). Dr. Nistor won several research and teaching awards and published to date over 260 scientific papers.