Bedient, Philip2017-07-312017-07-312016-122017-01-12December 2Irza, John Nicholas. "Addressing Uncertainty in Residential Damage Estimates from Tropical Cyclone Storm Surge, with a Focus on Variability in Structure Elevations." (2017) Master’s Thesis, Rice University. <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/1911/95569">https://hdl.handle.net/1911/95569</a>.https://hdl.handle.net/1911/95569A residential storm surge damage model was developed for a coastal Texas county. The model was used to investigate uncertainty in damage estimates under varying initial assumptions of structure elevations. Results indicated that the model was highly-sensitive to such assumptions, and discrepancies between damage estimates approached $2 billion for some scenarios. A survey of home elevations within the county was conducted to correct the initial assumptions. After correction, variability between the estimates decreased significantly, and the results suggested commonly employed elevation assumptions may be prone to damage overestimation. Additional aspects of uncertainty were then incorporated into the model and an uncertainty analysis (UA) was performed with respect to assumptions of the spatial independence between model parameters. The UA results showed a large degree of variability between independence assumptions. Finally, a global sensitivity analysis of the model was performed with inconclusive results, as they varied by independence assumption.application/pdfengCopyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.Storm surge damagesBuilding elevationsTropical Cyclone RiskThesis2017-07-31