H. Ronald Riggs

H. Ronald Riggs

Emeritus Professor of Civil, Environmental and Construction Engineering
Fellow of ASCE and ASME
Office: Holmes Hall 380
Phone: (808) 956-6566
E-mail: riggs@hawaii.edu

Areas of Specialty and Research Interest

Primary research interests include fluid-structure interaction, wave and tsunami loading on structures, hydroelasticity, real-time monitoring of structural response, and computational mechanics.

Education

  • Ph.D., Structural Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, 1981
  • M.S., Structural Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, 1976
  • B.S., Civil Engineering, California State University, Chico, 1975

Professional Registration

  • Registered Professional Engineer (P.E.), Civil Engineering, in Hawaii, license #11457

Experience

  • Assistant, Associate and Full Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1987 – 2019. Chair, 2003 – 2009. Interim Dean 2016 -2019.
  • Cooperating Graduate Faculty, Department of Ocean & Resource Engineering, University of Hawaii at Manoa.
  • Senior Research Engineer, Risers and Terminals Section, Exxon Production Research Company, Houston, TX, 1984 – 1987.
  • Research Engineer, Division of Nuclear Power Plant Engineering focusing on seismic soil-structure interaction, Hochtief AG, Frankfurt and Main, Germany, 1982 – 1984.

Courses Taught (in the last five years)

  • CEE 271: Applied Mechanics II: Dynamics
  • CEE 370: Mechanics of Materials
  • CEE 381: Structural Analysis
  • CEE 675: Structural Dynamics (S’15, S’16)
  • CEE 681: Theory of Modern Structural Analysis (F’14, F’15)
  • CEE 686: Finite Elements in Structures (F’14, S’16)
  • CEE 682: Numerical Methods in Engineering
  • CEE 684: Nonlinear Structural Analysis
  • CEE 686: Finite Elements in Structures

Professional Activities

  • Editor, ASCE Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal and Ocean Engineering.
  • Co-organizer, Joint Hawaii-Korea Workshop on Engineering of Coastal Structures for Tsunami and Coastal Storm Surge Hazards, June 12-13, 2012, Honolulu.
  • 30th International Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering Conference Technical Program Chair, Rotterdam, NL, June 19-24, 2011
  • Chair, ASME Ocean, Offshore, and Arctic Engineering Division, 2009-2010.
  • Associate Technical Editor, ASME Journal of Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering, 1999-2004, 2010″“present.
  • 28th International Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering Conference Co-chair, Honolulu, HI, May 31 – June 5, 2009.
  • Member, International Ship and Offshore Structures Congress (ISSC) Special Task Committee on Very Large Floating Structures, 2003-2006.
  • USA Co-Chair, VLFS ’03, International Workshop on Very Large Floating Structures, Tokyo, 2003.
  • Organizing Committee, VLFS ’99, International Workshop on Very Large Floating Structures, Honolulu, 1999.
  • Organizing and Executive Committee, VLFS ’96, International Workshop on Very Large Floating Structures, Japan, 1996.
  • Co-organizer, VLFS ’91, First International Workshop on Very Large Floating Structures, sponsored by NSF, April 24-26, 1991, Honolulu, HI.

Awards and Honors

  • Achievement Award, Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering Division, ASME, 2009
  • Fellow, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 2002.
  • Achievement Award, Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering Division, ASME, 1997.
  • NASA/ASEE Summer Faculty Fellow, NASA Langley Research Center, Langley Va., 1992.

Research Grants

  1. Riggs, H.R. (PI), Cox, D.T. (co-PI), Kobayashi, M.H. (co-PI), and Naito, C.J. (co-PI), ‘NEESR-CR: Impact Forces from Tsunami-Driven Debris,’ NSF, PI, September 15, 2010 – August 31, 2013.
  2. Brown, Susan (PI) and Riggs, H.R. (co-PI), ‘REU Site: University of Hawaii High Performance Computing Computational Fluid Dynamics Applications in Engineering, NSF, September 1, 2009 – August 31, 2012.
  3. Robertson, I.N. (PI), Ertekin, R.C. (co-PI), and Riggs, H.R. (co-PI), ‘Coastal Bridge and Port Vulnerability to Tsunami and Storm Surge, Hawaii Dept. of Transportation, November 1, 2009 – October 31, 2013.
  4. Robertson, I.N., Riggs, H.R., Cheung, K.F., Yim, S.C., and Young, Y.L., ‘NEESR-SG: Development of Performance Based Tsunami Engineering, PBTE,’ funded by NSF, September 15. 2005 – August 31, 2009.
  5. Riggs, H.R. (PI), ‘Extension to Large Displacements of the Inverse FEM for Full-Field Reconstruction of Deformations in Plates and Shells,’ funded by NASA, February 2005 – February 2007.
  6. Riggs, H.R. (PI), Ian Robertson (co-PI) Si-Hwan Park (co-PI), ‘Instrumenting and Monitoring the Performance of the FRP Shear Strengthening of the Salt Lake Boulevard Bridge,’ FHWA Innovative Bridge Research and Construction
    program, November 2003 – October 2008.
  7. Riggs, H.R. (PI), Ian Robertson (co-PI) Si-Hwan Park (co-PI), ‘Use of Advanced Composites for Hawaii Bridges with Application to Renovation of Historic Bridges,’ funded by Hawaii Dept. of Transportation, May 2001 – April 2003.
  8. Horst Brandes (PI) and H.R. Riggs (co-PI), ‘Modeling of Sediment Mechanics for Mine Burial Prediction,’ funded by Office of Naval Research, February 2001 – January 2003.
  9. Riggs, H.R. (PI) and Ertekin, R.C. (Co-PI), ‘Analytical Investigation of the Wave-Induced Response of Very Large Floating Structures,’ funded by National Science Foundation, January 1997 – June 2000.

Selected Publications

  1. Naito, C., Riggs, H. R., Wei, Y., and Cercone, C. (2016). “Shipping container impact assessment for tsunamis.” Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal and Ocean Engineering, to appear.
  2. Piran Aghl, P., Naito, C. J., and Riggs, H. R. (2016). “Study of demands resulting from transverse impact of high mass, low velocity debris.” Advances in Structural Engineering, to appear.
  3. Piran Aghl, P., Naito, C. J., and Riggs, H. R. (2015). “Effect of nonstructural mass on debris impact demands: Experimental and simulation studies.” Engineering Structures, 88, 10.1016/j.engstruct.2015.01.048, 163-175.
  4. Ko, H. T.-S., Cox, D. T., Riggs, H. R., and Naito, C. J. (2015). “Hydraulic experiments on impact forces from tsunami-driven debris.” Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering, 141(3), 10.1061/(ASCE)WW.1943-5460.0000286, 04014043.
  5. Khowitar, E., Riggs, H. R., and Kobayashi, M. H. (2015). “Tranverse impact of a horizontal beam on a vertical column.” Journal of Engineering Mechanics, 142(2), 10.1061/(ASCE)EM.1943-7889.0001011, 04015085.
  6. Hayatdavoodi, M., Ertekin, R. C., Robertson, I. N., and Riggs, H. R. (2015). “Vulnerability assessment of coastal bridges on Oahu impacted by storm surge and waves.” Natural Hazards, 79(2), 10.1007/s11069-015-1896-2, 1133-1157.
  7. Piran Aghl, P., Naito, C. J., and Riggs, H. R. (2015). “Effect of nonstructural mass on debris impact demands: Experimental and simulation studies.” Engineering Structures, 88, 10.1016/j.engstruct. 2015.01.048, 163-175.
  8. Piran Aghl, P., Naito, C. J., and Riggs, H. R. (2014). “Estimation of demands resulting from inelastic axial impact of steel debris.” Engineering Structures, 82(1), 10.1016/j.engstruct.2014.10.021, 11-21.
  9. Khowitar, E., Riggs, H. R., and Kobayashi, M. H. (2014). “Beam response to longitudinal impact by a pole.” Journal of Engineering Mechanics, 140(7), 10.1061/(ASCE)EM.1943-7889.0000765, 04014045.
  10. Ko, H. T.-S., Cox, D. T., Riggs, H. R., and Naito, C. J. (2014). “Hydraulic experiments on impact forces from tsunami-driven debris.” Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering, 10.1061/(ASCE)WW.1943-5460.0000286, 04014043.
  11. Naito, C., Cercone, C., Riggs, H. R., and Cox, D. (2014). “Procedure for site assessment of the potential for tsunami debris impact.” Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering, 140, 10.1061/(ASCE)WW.1943-5460.0000222, 223-232.
  12. Piran Aghl, P., Naito, C., and Riggs, H. R. (2014). “Full-scale experimental study of impact demands resulting from high mass, low velocity debris.” Journal of Structural Engineering, 10.1061/(ASCE)ST.1943-541X.0000948, 04014006.
  13. Piran Aghl, P., Naito, C. J., and Riggs, H. R. (2013). “An experimental study of demands resulting from in-air impact of debris.” Safety, Reliability, Risk and Life-Cycle Performance of Structures and Infrastructures, G. Deodatis, B. R. Ellingwood, and D. M. Frangopol, eds., Taylor and Francis Group, London, 5541-5547.
  14. Piran Aghl, P., Naito, C. J., and Riggs, H. R. (2014). “Estimation of demands resulting from inelastic axial impact of steel debris.” Engineering Structures, 82(1), 10.1016/j.engstruct.2014.10.021, 11-21.
  15. Riggs, H. R., Cox, D. T., Naito, C. J., Kobayashi, M. H., Piran Aghl, P., Ko, H. T.-S., and Khowitar, E. (2014). “Experimental and analytical study of water-driven debris impact forces on structures.” Journal of Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering, 136, doi:10.1115/1.4028338, OMAE-13-1042.
  16. Robertson, I. N., Paczkowski, K., Riggs, H. R. and Mohamed, A. (2013), ‘Experimental investigation of tsunami bore forces on vertical walls.’ Journal of Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering Vol. 135, paper 021601.
  17. Kobayashi, M. K., Riggs, H. R., and Paczkowski, K. (2012),’Hydroelastic impact models for water-borne debris.’ Journal of Engineering for the Maritime Environment, Vol. 226, No 2, pp. 170-179.
  18. Paczkowski, K., Riggs, H. R., Naito, C. J., and Lehmann, A. (2012), ‘A one-dimensional model for impact forces resulting from high mass, low velocity debris.’ Structural Engineering and Mechanics, Vol. 42, No. 6, pp.. 831-847.
  19. Riggs, H.R., 2009, ‘Comparison of formulations for the hydrostatic stiffness of flexible structures,’ Journal of Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering, Vol. 131, paper 024501, 6 pp., doi: 10.1115/1.3058702.
  20. Davis, E.P., Ertekin, R.C., and Riggs, H.R., 2009, ‘A buoy-based WEC device to provide low power to sensors,’ Proc. 28th International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering, Honolulu, paper OMAE2009-80091, 10 pp.
  21. Robertson, I.N., Riggs, H.R., Mohammed, A., 2008, ‘Experimental results of tsunami bore forces on structures,’ Proc., 27th International Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering Conference, paper OMAE2008-57525, 9 pp.
  22. Riggs, H.R., Suzuki, H., Ertekin, R.C., Kim, J.W., Iijima, K., 2008, ‘Comparison of hydroelastic computer codes based on the ISSC VLFS benchmark,’ Ocean Engineering, Vol. 35, pp. 589-597.
  23. Riggs, H.R., Robertson, I.N., Cheung, K.F., Pawlak, G., Young, Y.L., Yim, S.C.S., 2008, ‘Experimental simulation of tsunami hazards to buildings and bridges,’ Proc., NSF CMMI Engineering Research and Innovation Conference,
    Paper No. 0530759.
  24. Suzuki, H., Riggs, H.R., Fujikubo, M., Shugar, T.A., Seto, H., Yasuzawa, Y., Bhattacharya, B., Hudson, D.A., Shin, H., 2007, ‘Very large floating structures,’ Proc., 26th International Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering Conference,
    paper OMAE2007-29758.
  25. Robertson, I.N., Yim, S., Riggs, H.R., Young, Y.L., 2007, ‘Coastal bridge performance during Hurricane Katrina,’ Proc., Structural Engineering, Mechanics, and Computation 3, pp. 1864-1870.
  26. Robertson, I.N., Riggs, H.R., Yim, S.C.S., Young, Y.L., 2007, ‘Lessons from Hurricane Katrina storm surge on bridges and buildings,’ Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering, Vol. 133, pp. 463-483.
  27. Riggs, H.R., 2007, ‘JWPCOE Special Issue: Tsunami Engineering (Introduction),’ Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering, Vol. 133, pp. 381.
  28. Riggs, H.R., Niimi, K.M., Huang, L.L., 2007, ‘Two benchmark problems for three-dimensional, linear hydroelasticity,’ Journal of Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering, Vol. 129, pp. 149-157.
  29. Paczkowski, K. and Riggs, H.R., 2007. ‘An inverse finite element strategy to recover full-field, large displacements from strain measurements,’ Proc., 26th International Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering Conference, paper OMAE2007-29730.
  30. Pedro, H.T.C., Leung, K.-W., Kobayashi, M.H., and Riggs, H.R., 2007, ‘Numerical Study of the Wave Impact on Structural Elements Using Large Eddy Simulation,’ Proc., 26th International Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering
    Conference, paper OMAE2007-29729.
  31. Robertson, I., Riggs, H.R., Yim, S. and Young, Y.L., 2006. Lessons from Katrina, ASCE Civil Engineering magazine, April, pp. 56-63.
  32. Riggs, H.R., Suzuki, H., Yasuzawa, Y., Kim, J.W. and Ertekin, R.C., 2006. Hydroelastic response of the ISSC benchmark, Proc., Fourth International Conference on Hydroelasticity in Marine Technology, pp. 207-213.
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