Abstract:
Of all the sanitation infra-structures used nowadays, those encountered in the final step
of the effluent treatment are of special importance mostly in countries where the
coastline is extensively developed for housing, industry and other purposes, being
almost inevitable that the chosen places for the final effluent disposal will be the sea and
the estuaries.
Reality has revealed the existence of gaps in experience, information and means to carry
out this type of structures in the best possible conditions. Reported accidents with such
installations, including accidents in Portugal, highlighted that their good working
conditions are of mandatory importance to the environment, population’s welfare and
economy.
This calls for the application of a risk management approach, based on methodologies
that account for randomness and uncertainty, that incorporate all the existing
information and data, that account for the probability of failure of the structures and its
consequences and, finally, that will grant a cost optimization of the project.
The main goal of the project described in this paper is the development of a
methodology and tools for application of probabilistic and optimization methods in the
context of a risk management approach to the project of submarine outfalls. This
represents an innovative research subject, both in Portugal and abroad.
The main objective of this paper is to present the methodology and the tools to be used
throughout the project. The interim objectives include the presentation of a list of risks
associated with the project of outfalls, identification of the failure modes for these
structures and their ascription to ultimate, serviceability or operational limit states. The
methodology is established suiting the needs for applying probabilistic and optimization
techniques to the project of these structures
