CEE 200 Sec 1 Seminar: Albert Kottke

Speaker:
Affiliation:

cee200: Structural & Geotechnical Engineering Seminar

UCLA Civil & Environmental Engineering Department

Taking Care of Aging Infrastructure:
An Owner’s Engineer Perspective

Albert Kottke, Ph.D.

Geotechnical Earthquake Engineer, Pacific Gas & Electric

The role of an owner’s engineer is the caretaker of existing infrastructure. They are responsible for continually evaluating exists structures and deciding which are safe, which need to be retrofitted, and which need to be sold or decommissioned. Decisions that seemed insignificant at the time of design or construction may end up being significant issues after years of service. This presentation will introduce Pacific Gas and Electric and the assets that are vulnerable to seismic and geotechnical hazards. Specific examples will include pipelines that cross faults, seismic hazard evaluation, and dam deformation studies.

Where:   Haines Hall 220

When:    4 – 6 PM, Tuesday, April 24

Dr. Albert Kottke graduated from University of Texas in 2010 with a doctorate in civil engineering. During his graduate work his research focused on site response methods, uncertainty in soil properties and site characteristics, and ground motion selection. After completion of his graduate work he moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to work as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of California Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research (PEER) Center at Berkeley. He spent two years working on the Next Generation Attenuation (NGA) West2 and NGA East projects. His work on these projects involved wide ranging topics such as: investigation of hanging-wall effects using finite fault simulations, developed of site profile database, definition of reference rock conditions in the Central and Eastern US, examination of the depth dependence of site amplification. In 2012, he started work at Bechtel in San Francisco. For the next five years, Dr. Kottke focused on development of ground motions for new and existing nuclear plants. His experience at Bechtel also included a geohazards study of a pipeline alignment, site investigation work for a planned liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility, and liquefaction studies. In November 2017, he started work at Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) in the Geosciences group. His work focuses on the development of ground motion hazard, and quantifying and reducing the ground motion and geotechnical risks.

Date/Time:
Date(s) - Apr 24, 2018
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm

Location:
Haines Hall 220
375 Portola Plaza Los Angeles CA 90095