Ellis L Krinitzsky

Ellis L. Krinitzsky
Born	1924
Residence	Vicksburg, Mississippi, United States
Nationality	USA
Known for	Criticism of probabilistic seismic hazard analysis; deterministic seismic hazard assessment
Scientific career
Fields	Engineering geology, seismology, seismic hazard
Institutions	U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Waterways Experiment Station

Ellis L. Krinitzsky (born 1924) is an American engineering geologist and seismic hazard specialist who spent his career at the United States Army Corps of Engineers Waterways Experiment Station in Vicksburg, Mississippi. He is known for his work on earthquake ground motion and seismic hazard assessment for dams and other critical structures, and for his sustained criticism of probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) in favor of deterministic methods.

Biography

Krinitzsky worked for many years at the U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station (WES) in Vicksburg, Mississippi, where he served as Chief of the Geologic Research Section of the Geology Branch, Soils Division (later the Geotechnical Laboratory). His research concentrated on the geological and seismological evaluation of earthquake hazards for engineering projects, including the specification of design ground motions for dams and other structures.

He was active in the broader engineering geology community, serving as Editor-in-Chief of the journal Engineering Geology. In 1993 he delivered the third Richard H. Jahns Distinguished Lecture in Engineering Geology, a lectureship jointly sponsored by the Geological Society of America and the Association of Environmental and Engineering Geologists.

Work

Much of Krinitzsky's work addressed how to characterize earthquake ground motions for design, drawing on studies of neotectonics, active faulting, and observed strong-motion records. He co-authored the practical reference Fundamentals of Earthquake-Resistant Construction (1993) with James P. Gould and Peter H. Edinger, and contributed extensively to Corps of Engineers technical reports on assessing earthquake hazards in the United States.

Krinitzsky became a prominent critic of probabilistic seismic hazard analysis. He argued that deterministic seismic hazard analysis (DSHA) and PSHA are fundamentally different approaches: in his view, DSHA is grounded in observable geology and physical reality, whereas PSHA rests on earthquake statistics and numerical modeling that introduce uncertainties created by the method itself. He questioned the reliance of PSHA on extrapolated magnitude–recurrence relations and on procedures that average multiple expert opinions. For critical projects, where the consequences of failure would be intolerable, he advocated the deterministic approach based on the maximum credible earthquake. These positions were developed in papers such as "Deterministic versus probabilistic seismic hazard analysis for critical structures" (1995) and "Epistematic and aleatory uncertainty: a new shtick for probabilistic seismic hazard analysis" (2002), both published in Engineering Geology.

Honors

• Editor-in-Chief, journal Engineering Geology
• Third Richard H. Jahns Distinguished Lecturer in Engineering Geology (1993)

Selected works

• Krinitzsky, E. L., Gould, J. P., & Edinger, P. H. (1993). Fundamentals of Earthquake-Resistant Construction. Wiley Series of Practical Construction Guides. New York: Wiley.
• Krinitzsky, E. L. (1995). "Deterministic versus probabilistic seismic hazard analysis for critical structures." Engineering Geology, 40(1–2), 1–7.
• Krinitzsky, E. L. (2002). "Epistematic and aleatory uncertainty: a new shtick for probabilistic seismic hazard analysis." Engineering Geology, 66(1–2), 157–159.
• Krinitzsky, E. L. (2002). "How to combine deterministic and probabilistic methods for assessing earthquake hazards." Engineering Geology, 66(3–4), 163–173.

External links

• Fundamentals of Earthquake-Resistant Construction (Google Books)
• "Epistematic and aleatory uncertainty" (NASA ADS)