Nebraska Section September Meeting

SCHEDULE: Thursday, September 14, 2023
Social: 5:30 PM (cash bar)
Dinner: 6:15PM
Presentation: 7:00 PM

MENU
Beacon Hills in Aksarben Village

Sirloin Steak, Grilled Salmon, Chicken Parmigiana, Herb Roasted Chicken, or Portabella Mushrooms (vegetarian) with salad, roasted red potatoes, fresh asparagus, and choice of dessert (chocolate or white angel cake). 

Includes coffee, iced tea, and soda.  All other beverages available at cash bar. 

SPEAKER AND PRESENTATION TOPIC
Marc L. Levitan, PhD, F.SEI; National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

Tornado Protective Design:  Storm shelters, Safe Rooms, and Best Available Refuge Areas

PRESENTATION ABSTRACT
Tornadoes kill more Americans than hurricanes and earthquakes combined, and most tornado fatalities occur inside buildings.  Tornado shelters (meeting the ICC 500 standard)  and safe rooms (which meet FEMA P-361 criteria) are intended to provide near-absolute life safety protection from tornadoes.  Beginning with the 2015 International Building Code, tornado shelters are required to be installed in schools and emergency response facilities (e.g., fire and police stations, emergency operations centers) over most of 22 states in the central and southeast US.   As the number of states and counties and cities adopting the 2015 and later editions of the IBC continues to increase, there has been a boom in storm shelter construction. For existing facilities, engineering evaluations to determine the best available tornado refuge areas are also becoming more common. This presentation will provide a brief history and overview of the tornado protection options, explain the differences between tornado shelters, safe rooms, and best available refuge areas, summarize code and standard requirements for shelters, and explain why shelters can’t be designed using only the new tornado load chapter in ASCE 7-22.

SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Marc Levitan is the Lead Research Engineer for the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).  He has over 25 years of experience in research on tornado, hurricane, and extreme wind effects on buildings and structures.  With respect to tornado research, Dr, Levitan served as lead investigator for NIST investigations of the 2011 Joplin Missouri tornado and 2013 Moore Oklahoma tornado.  He directs implementation of many recommendations resulting from these investigations, including: chairing the ASCE/SEI committee that developed the tornado load provisions for ASCE 7-22 (which are the subject of the SEAON Conference tornado presentation tomorrow); the ASCE/AMS committee developing a new standard on wind speed estimation in tornadoes; and the International Code Council committee developing the 2023 (and previous) editions of the ICC 500 Standard for the Design and Construction of Storm Shelters.

RSVP
Register by Thursday, September 7, 2023 at 11:59 PM