Hazard Modeling for Civil Engineering

Amelia Mullins, Columbia University in the City of New York
Author Profile
Initial Publication Date: June 24, 2025

Summary

This lab assignment, along with its complementary lecture materials, was designed to introduce civil engineering students to natural disaster hazard modeling. While tailored for civil engineering education, the materials are also well-suited for teaching computational volcanology and tephra fallout as a volcanic hazard. Using the South Sister volcanic rim as a case study, the lab guides students through a civil engineering application by modeling roof collapse scenarios based on Tephra2 outputs within the VICTOR platform.

Share your modifications and improvements to this activity through the Community Contribution Tool »

Context

Audience

This lab is highly adaptable to interdisciplinary geoscience, physics, and engineering courses where students are learning to apply quantitative methods to model volcanic hazards. Ideally, students have strong mathematical backgrounds but varying levels of coding experience.

Skills and concepts that students must have mastered

Familiarity with geohazards or natural hazard concepts is helpful but not required. Prior coding experience is not essential; however, students should be comfortable interpreting data outputs and working with mathematical models.

How the activity is situated in the course

This lab is designed to be a stand alone exercise that can be paired with existing lecture materials or follow the lecture slides provided for this unit.

Goals

Content/concepts goals for this activity

Understand ash and tephra as a volcanic hazard, identifying and modifying eruption input parameters, interpreting model outputs and determining impacts on surrounding infrastructure, interacting with real world hazard modeling applications.

Higher order thinking skills goals for this activity

Analyze model input and output parameters and make determinations about their effect on eruption outcomes, interpret outputs in the context of hazard modeling and impact, and make predictions using output data on risk to infrastructure.

Skills goals for this activity

Navigate and use the VICTOR platform for simulating volcanic processes, interact with online tools to identify and select sensitive or high-priority infrastructure for risk evaluation, and practice independent problem-solving especially within computational modeling environments.

Description and Teaching Materials

This lab activity guides students through the use of the Tephra2 volcanic ash dispersion model within the VICTOR (Volcanic Interactive Computational Tool for Online Research) platform to explore the real-world implications of volcanic eruptions on critical infrastructure. Students engage in computational modeling using a hypothetical eruption scenario at South Sister volcano and analyze how different eruption parameters affect ash distribution and potential roof collapse risk in nearby communities.
The activity is designed to support a geohazards engineering course for upper-division undergraduate students in physics and engineering, and is flexible enough to be used in related courses on volcanology, natural hazards, or environmental modeling. It emphasizes model interaction, data interpretation, and engineering applications, while allowing students to work independently within a guided computational environment.

Activity Procedures
Students begin by registering for the VICTOR platform and VICTOR community forum. They are then introduced to the Tephra2 model and complete a lab that walks them through setting up simulation parameters (e.g., eruption column height, wind speed, duration), running the model, and analyzing the resulting tephra fallout maps.
Students are prompted to select nearby infrastructure (such as homes, schools, or hospitals) within the model domain and use Tephra2 outputs to evaluate tephra weight and potential roof collapse risks. They document their findings and interpretations through written responses to lab questions.
Optional preparatory materials (such as the Tephra2 manual and video tutorials) are provided to support students with varying levels of familiarity with modeling tools and volcanic processes.

Materials Required: Internet access.
Registration on the VICTOR platform.

Registration on the VICTOR Forum: used for troubleshooting, peer Q&A, and instructor support.

Lab Assignment Document: (also available as PDF download)

Tephra2 User Manual (optional).

"Tephra2 on VICTOR" video tutorial (optional)

Tephra2 and Hazard Modeling on VICTOR slideshow presentation.


Description of Materials
Lab Assignment: A student-facing handout that introduces the eruption scenario, explains how to interact with the VICTOR interface, and includes guided questions and prompts for analyzing model results and infrastructure risk.

VICTOR Platform and Forum: Web-based tools that provide access to Tephra2 modeling and a space for community support. Students are supported in interacting with these throughout the lab.

Lecture Slides: Introduces tephra fallout hazards, the South Sister case study, the VICTOR platform, and Tephra2. Includes in-class registration walk-through and lab setup guidance.

If you are an educator working with these materials and need modifications to better meet the needs of your students, email us at victor@ldeo.columbia.edu or fill out this form, and we will reach out to you directly.

To explore more content for educators using the VICTOR platform, visit the 'For Educators' page on the VICTOR website. 


Tephra Hazard Modeling and Civil Engineering (Acrobat (PDF) 3.4MB Jun16 25)