CIVIL WORKS
R&D Va l u e t o the Nation 2020 Edition
J EDWARD ROUSH LAKE HUNTINGTON, INDIANA
FOREWORD Since its earliest days, our Nation has relied on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to solve its most difficult Civil Works challenges. The Corps has built coastal fortifications, mapped the Western frontier and installed flood control infrastructure. It has discovered methods to manage aquatic plants, maintained a vast network of water resource infrastructure such as locks and dams, dredged and maintained navigation channels, and reduced the risk of damages caused by flooding and hurricanes. And while the Corps’ scope has expanded since George Washington appointed the first Army engineer officers, its Civil Works missions remain relevant and critical today. The Corps is the leader in operating and maintaining the Nation’s water resources. It has strengthened America’s economy, aided in disaster relief, and sustained ecosystems. Today, the Corps’ Civil Works programs include flood risk management, navigation, recreation, environmental stewardship, emergency response and hydropower production. The Corps is charged with managing water infrastructure in a manner that both meets the Nation’s contemporary needs and adapts to changing conditions. It must balance competing water uses, such as economic security, environmental health, social well-being and public safety. In executing these ambitious objectives, the Corps continually innovates its design, engineering, construction, operations and maintenance activities as facilitated through its world-class Research and Development mission.
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The Corps’ Engineer Research and Development Center executes the R&D mission of the Corps through leading and partnering with others to provide basic and applied research for better management of our Nation’s infrastructure. R&D advancements have discovered new materials to extend the life of infrastructure, developed technologies to conduct dangerous inspections without putting personnel at risk, and delivered methods to enhance ecosystems through better sediment management, among others. As we move through the 21st Century, we must continually innovate to solve tomorrow’s challenges in the most effective, cost-efficient and environmentally-friendly manner possible. Transforming the Civil Works program requires relentless research into new and creative methods to deliver the program faster, better, safer and in a more costeffective manner. We remain committed to finding these solutions for the Nation and the American people.
SCOTT A. SPELLMON Major General, USA Deputy Commanding General for Civil and Emergency Operations
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CIVIL WORKS R&D: VALUE TO THE NATION Ta b l e o f C o n t e n t s
Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Historical Highlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Ship/Tow Simulator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 ADCIRC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Collaboration Benefits the Nation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Value to the Nation Highlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Efficient Solution for Fish Movement at Locks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composite Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Reliability Analysis of Coastal Rubble Mound Structures . . . . . . . . 16 Sediment Budget Analysis System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Nearshore Nourishment & the Sediment Mobility Tool . . . . . . . . . . 20 Radar Inlet Observing System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 High-Resolution Monitoring of Nearshore Morphologic Change . . 24 Mini-Argus Nearshore Video Imaging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Electric Fish Dispersal Barriers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Coastal Zone Mapping & Imaging LIDAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Microbotic Infrastructure Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Seven Mile Island Innovation Laboratory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Delisting the Interior Least Tern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 4
Engineering With NatureÂŽ to Produce Horizontal Levees . . . . . . . . 38 Dredging Impact on Atlantic Sturgeon Migration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 U.S. Coastal Research Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Coastal Storm Modeling System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Risk Management Center-BestFit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 River Hydraulics Model Quantifies Flooding Impacts . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Navigation Improvement Monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Imagining the Future Through R&D Innovation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Integrating Measurements, Machine Learning & Models . . . . . . . . 53 Autonomous Navigation Channel Surveys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Data Analytics for Enhanced Navigation Mission Readiness . . . . . 55 Credits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
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HISTORICAL HIGHLIGHTS
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SHIP/TOW SIMULATOR
By regulation, every deep draft navigation study involving a federally maintained channel must include a ship simulation study of the proposed project. The majority of these studies are performed at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s (ERDC) Ship/Tow Simulator facility. Ship simulation became a part of the Corps’ channel design process in 1983 with development of the first-generation simulator at ERDC, then known as the Waterways Experiment Station. Using a state-of-the-art physics engine and inputs from validated numerical models, ERDC’s simulator accurately portrays currents, wind and wave conditions, shallow water effects, bank forces, ship handling, ship-to-ship interaction, fender and anchor forces, and tug assistance. The facility’s three ship-bridge mockups assist engineers in evaluating new navigation channel designs, channel modifications and related safety issues in a virtual environment. By placing pilots in this environment, engineers are able to obtain expert feedback from the pilots’ direct interaction with simulated project features. This feedback allows engineers to make significantly more accurate assessments of project viability and safety. The simulator has been used to study proposed designs in every coastal port in the U.S., including Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and many inland ports. Two studies illustrate the simulator’s impact. Simulations of the 20-mile-long Brownsville Ship Channel (Texas) resulted in a 25-foot reduction of the original required channel width, saving more than $4 million in construction costs. Simulations of three planned floodgates for the New Orleans surge barrier protection system resulted in modifications to the guide walls, operations and aids to navigation. The simulations also allowed the towing industry to become part of the design process and resulted in a safer and more efficient floodgate complex.
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ADCIRC
To predict storm surge water level and help reduce the impact of storm damage, hydrodynamic engineering experts at ERDC helped develop the ADvanced CIRCulation Model (ADCIRC). Certified by FEMA for use in performing storm surge analyses, ADCIRC is a hydrodynamic modeling technology that conducts short- and long-term simulations of tide and storm surge elevations and velocities in deep ocean, continental shelves, coastal seas and small-scale estuarine systems. Prior to development of numerical technologies such as ADCIRC, these simulations were conducted with physical models, but only for smaller regions and limited conditions. Results did not represent basin-scale processes and were limited. The Corps uses these results to better design, modify, operate and maintain federal inlet navigation channels, jetties and waterways. Predicting potential storm surge water levels is critical for designing flood and storm damage reduction projects, in the protection of facilities and infrastructure, and in planning and evacuating low-lying areas prior to storms. In a single simulation, ADCIRC can provide tide and storm surge elevations and velocities corresponding to each node over very large, regional domains such as the western North Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. Typical ADCIRC applications include modeling tides and wind-driven circulation, analysis of hurricane storm surge and flooding, dredging feasibility, inlet sediment transport, and near-shore marine operations. ADCIRC has been successfully used in numerous high-impact studies such as hindcasting of Hurricane Katrina for the Corps’ Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force report, creating tidal databases, redesigning the New Orleans flood protection system, and numerous military applications around the world.
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COLLABORATION BENEFITS THE NATION
Leaders of the Corps’ Civil Works Research, Development and Technology programs bring together federal agencies, academia and industry to optimize solutions with the greatest benefits to the Nation. These partnerships have leveraged ongoing research, applications and technologies to amplify impacts of the subsequent projects. Many of the projects with the greatest impact were a result of those partnerships. Collaborations were used to advance models and activities, such as the ADvanced CIRCulation model, Joint Airborne LIDAR Bathymetric Technical Center of Expertise, and the U.S. Coastal Research Program. The ERDC Field Research Facility has provided a venue for researchers to work together on field studies, and the Coastal Engineering Manual resulted from shared development of guidance. Meanwhile, the Hydrologic Engineering Center’s River Analysis System and other models developed by the Corps’ Institute for Water Resources benefited from the input of a number of outside experts. Other examples of successful collaborations include Engineering With Nature®, the Lock Operations Management Application, research into composites and other innovative materials, dredging optimization, and the movement and management of threatened and endangered species.
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VALUE TO THE NATION HIGHLIGHTS
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PROBLEM
Thanks to its Northwestern Division’s knowledge of salmon management, the Corps is considered a world leader in the management of fish and fish passage at infrastructure. However, fish movement is less understood at Corps locks and dams elsewhere in the country. The knowledge gap has contributed to cost and schedule overruns because of large uncertainties in design and operations. Furthermore, there are no tools that can effectively bridge gaps between accepted Corps design and operations at locks and dams and new ecosystem considerations.
SOLUTION
ERDC and university partners are developing the first Corps data set of fish movement below a lock and dam at the scale of the existing infrastructure. Researchers are tagging and modeling multiple fish species across a range of river and operational conditions to address how fish interact with Corps dams. This data set will be coupled with detailed laboratory, hydraulic and genetic modeling to capture population-level impacts and develop recommendations for mitigation.
IMPACT
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The project has developed the first fine-scale movement data set for non-salmon species at the temporal and spatial resolution needed to understand movement and passage near a dam. New genetic and behavioral models, coupled to high-resolution positional and behavior models are providing, for the first time, testable hypotheses on how fish movement is enhanced or degraded near dams. Long-term application will develop actionable recommendations for Corps-wide uncertainties involving aging locks and dams. The Corps has partnered with an independently developed project by the World Association for Waterborne Transport Infrastructure that addresses the same data gaps, thus providing unique leveraging opportunities.
EFFICIENT SOLUTION FOR FISH MOVEMENT AT LOCKS
Facilitating fish movement through locks and dams is an important element in robust ecological management. ERDC and university partners have been pioneering the collection of high-resolution fish movement data for fish species that have not been extensively studied but have an increasingly recognized role in ecosystem. By studying low-use locks and dams, their goal is to understand how to attract and pass fish through existing navigation locks. Although these low-use structures have limited commercial navigation operations, they increasingly serve a range of other users, such as municipal and industrial entities that take advantage of dam pools for water supply, recreation and commerce. This makes these structures convenient locations to implement water quality and ecosystem management activities, including invasive species management.
1ST
DATA SET FOR NON-SALMON SPECIES MOVEMENT & PASSAGE NEAR DAM
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PROBLEM
As the Corps’ water resources infrastructure surpasses its designed service life, the risk of component failure due to material degradation is an increasing concern. Further, maintenance budgets are not keeping pace with the rate of degradation. Long-term performance data are needed to validate newer corrosion-resistant materials so they can be incorporated into industry specification and code documents for design engineers and maintenance personnel.
SOLUTION
Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) composites are proving to be a significant advantage in replacing corrosion-prone steel, timber and concrete structural components; repairing degraded structures; and arresting crack propagation in hydraulic steel structures. Recent research into the long-term durability of FRP composite materials for these applications has proven their durability, strength, low initial costs, and low maintenance costs. This research will extend the life and long-term durability of Civil Works infrastructure.
IMPACT
MILLION ON ONE TYPICAL
Guide specification updates will provide minimum requirements for FRP composite materials in a specific application and realistic service life expectations, saving millions of dollars by extending time intervals between rehabilitation. For example, assuming that 10 percent of the Corps’ Civil Works infrastructure would benefit from FRP composites, and 5 percent of these need maintenance on an annual basis, use of FRP composites could save $2 million annually in Corps Operations & Maintenance on navigation lock gates alone. The savings potential for all applications of FRP composite materials is even greater. 14
$2
OPERATIONS & MAINTENANCE SAVINGS
(ANNUALLY) NAVIGATION
PROJECT
FIBER REINFORCED POLYMER COMPOSITE MATERIALS
The Corps maintains 12,000 miles of inland waterways, including more than 200 inland navigation structures such as locks and dams. The majority of these structures were constructed between 1930 and 1950 with a 50year economic service life, meaning they are beyond their intended lifespans. Due to national budgetary constraints, these aging structures are not being replaced, but simply maintained. However, the rate of degradation due to corrosion and wear now exceeds the rate at which they can be maintained. Since approximately 565 million tons of waterborne cargo are moved through these structures annually, prolonged component failure would have devastating effects on commerce. The Corps has placed a high priority on developing novel materials to repair or replace aging infrastructure to extend the structures’ working lifetime. Over the last decade, the Corps has demonstrated repair or replacement of typical construction materials with Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) composite materials for numerous applications. These materials have been used to repair failing concrete, replace rotted timber, and repair or replace corroded metals. Since implementation, these FRP composite materials have been evaluated for their long-term durability, strength and performance to validate initial construction and long-term maintenance cost projections.
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RELIABILITY ANALYSIS OF COASTAL RUBBLE MOUND STRUCTURES
For the last 20 years, the U.S. has averaged nearly one catastrophic tropical cyclone per year. This chronic coastal storm risk has provided impetus for the Corps to quantify the coastal storm hazard with improved analytical and statistical accuracy. These cyclones damage and weaken infrastructure, such as more than 1,000 coastal rubble mound structures in the Corps’ vast infrastructure portfolio. In 2019, Corps’ engineering and design efforts included billions of dollars of new or modified structures; however, existing guidance is outdated. The Coastal Hazards System (CHS) and StormSim are two research products that provide tools and data to compute accurate, risk-informed reliability for coastal rubble mound structures. CHS is a national probabilistic coastal storm hazard resource that accurately quantifies detailed and comprehensive storm hazards on a national scale. StormSim is a suite of stochastic analysis and probabilistic modeling tools for coastal engineering that applies CHS modeling suites. Together, these research products save time and costs associated with local and regional studies, facilitating more efficient rubble mound structure design and quantification of risk.
$100+ SAVINGS THESE TOOLS PROVIDE
THOUSAND
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PER POST-CYCLONE ASSESSMENT
IN ADDITION TO BETTER DESIGNS
PROBLEM
Corps manuals do not include comprehensive and prescriptive safety-level metrics for coastal rubble mound structure design. International practice has moved to prescribing safety levels for these structures. The result is unknown risk and uncertain approaches for engineering design and assessment, leading to widely varying levels of over- and under-design. The Corps’ existing state-of-practice guidance in its Coastal Engineering Manual provides a reliability framework, but there are no prescriptive safety factors, so the guidance is difficult to use.
SOLUTION
The CHS provides essential forcing data to develop target safety levels, with a large portion of the U.S. East and Gulf Coast complete so far. The CHS and StormSim provide the tools and data necessary to compute reliability for Corps coastal structures. Developing prescriptive guidance follows present civil engineering practice of computing reliability for existing structures, comparing reliability to performance, and establishing prescriptive safety levels corresponding to varying levels of performance.
IMPACT
Using automated probabilistic tools with existing CHS data provides accurate stochastic response and saves time and the cost of regional coastal storm modeling that typically ranges in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. These approaches have been applied to a wide range of Corps coastal structures to develop essential generalized safety levels. The results and tools facilitate accurate risk estimates, more efficient designs, and maintenance management of the Corps’ inventory of coastal rubble mound structures.
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SEDIMENT BUDGET ANALYSIS SYSTEM
The Houston-Galveston Ship Channel serves the largest port in the Nation, the Port of Houston, and is maintained by the Corps’ Galveston District. Galveston Island contains about 30 miles of beaches and is located adjacent to the ship channel. Smart sediment management of the channel can benefit the integrity and resilience of adjacent barrier islands. Sediment budgets provide a foundational assessment of sediment magnitudes, rates of exchange, and pathways for coastal and waterway studies. They often form the basis used in local and regional planning, and engineering and design studies. A comprehensive budget provides accounting of the sources, sinks and pathways within a regional system.
$2.8 PER YEAR MILLION
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POTENTIAL COST SAVINGS
AT HOUSTON-GALVESTON SHIP CHANNEL
PROBLEM
The Houston-Galveston Ship Channel was experiencing consistently high shoaling rates. At the same time, Galveston Island was experiencing severe erosion. The Galveston District needed to evaluate shoaling sources and opportunities for the beneficial use of dredged sediment. The district wanted to use engineering approaches to understand the physical processes at work on Galveston Island to quantify sediment needs for various beach nourishment alternatives.
SOLUTION
The Galveston District and ERDC utilized the Sediment Budget Analysis System (SBAS) to create a sediment budget to guide development of a sand management plan for Galveston Island. The SBAS provided a transparent way to document sediment sources, volume change and engineering activites such as dredging and placement, and share those details with study partners. Using SBAS, the Project Delivery Team determined numerous sediment management alternatives to lessen the amount of shoaling in the ship channel.
IMPACT
Sediment budgets provide better understanding of sediment sources, sinks and pathways; and can assist in more efficient sediment management in the region. The Galveston Park Board adopted the Sand Management Plan in 2015. If all alternatives are employed, it would keep about 690,000 cubic yards per year out of the channel, leading to a potential cost savings of $2.8 million per year (based on a representative dredging cost of $4 per cubic yard). 19
PROBLEM
Nearshore nourishment is a form of strategic sediment placement that can reduce waves, use natural forces to sort coarse sand from fine material, and transport sand onshore. It is a common strategy to beneficially use sediment from dredging projects that keeps sediment in the system and potentially reduces costs. However, questions exist about how quickly sediment placed in the nearshore will move and the direction it will travel. Time and budget restrictions often prevent the use of robust numerical models to study these projects.
$5 COST SAVINGS PER PROJECT
THOUSAND (APPROX.)
$110
COST SAVINGS PER THOUSAND SEASON (APPROX.) IN THE COLUMBIA RIVER
SOLUTION
To address key regulatory and stakeholder questions, ERDC created the Sediment Mobility Tool (SMT) to assist planners and engineers in rapidly identifying and evaluating potential nearshore placement sites. The tool was designed to save both time and money; it is also an effective communication tool to garner support of regulators and stakeholders for nearshore nourishment projects.
IMPACT
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The SMT saves on a project-by-project basis by completing in five minutes what previously took a coastal engineer a week, saving approximately $5,000 per project. It also provides guidance for nearshore nourishment placement, which can save money while keeping sediment in the system for healthier and more resilient coastlines. For a recent project at the mouth of the Columbia River, placing sediment in the nearshore led to approximately $110,000 in cost savings per season compared with the deepwater placement site, with the added value of keeping sediment in the littoral system.
NEARSHORE NOURISHMENT & THE SEDIMENT MOBILITY TOOL
Channels are regularly dredged to maintain navigable water depths. Historically, dredged sediment was placed in offshore dredged material disposal sites. However, because this practice takes sediment out of the system, it can potentially lead to erosion downdrift of the channel. An alternative approach places material in the nearshore to keep sediment in the littoral zone. Placing in the nearshore reduces costs, nourishes adjacent beaches, and protects the shoreline by attenuating high-energy waves. This strategy has become common practice, but answers to key questions about whether the sediment will move and where it is likely to go are challenging. The Sediment Mobility Tool (SMT) was developed to assist coastal engineers and planners in determining locations for nearshore placement areas. SMT is a simple web application available through the Corps’ Navigation Portal (https:// navigation.usace.army.mil/DIF/Explore). It can rapidly produce a preliminary assessment of how often sediment placed in the nearshore will be mobilized and the direction of sediment transport.
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PROBLEM
The Corps is charged with maintaining safe, navigable tidal inlets while minimizing adverse effects to adjacent property and the environment. Balancing navigable channels with healthy beaches and ecosystems can be a challenge, particularly on a continual, up-to-date basis when the positions of channels and shoals are dynamic and the volume of infilling sediment is costly to quantify on a regular basis.
SOLUTION
Corps researchers designed RIOS to analyze metrics for engineering support along shorelines, harbor entrances and tidal inlets over extended, hourly time periods. RIOS can infer bedform migration, channel infilling, wave angle and bathymetry effectively at remote locations. These lowcost, near real-time measurements of waves, channel positions and depths improve safety at navigable coastal inlets.
IMPACT
Corps dredging and placement strategies are optimized by rapid, cost-effective measures that address shoal migration and encroachment into navigation channels. RIOS data can facilitate understanding of inlet dynamics to focus and potentially defer dredging efforts. RIOS observations also guide sediment placement design by monitoring the rate and direction of sediment movement after placement. 22
RADAR INLET OBSERVING SYSTEM
Corps researchers developed the Radar Inlet Observing System (RIOS) to provide stakeholders interested in processes at tidal inlets and harbor entrances a continuous near real-time measure of wave conditions and channel depths and positions. Sediment transport in shallow, coastal environments is often difficult to measure, particularly during storm events when shoal and channel positions shift substantially and wave conditions are too treacherous for small survey vessels to safely operate. RIOS utilizes X-band radar to remotely measure wave parameters and exploits wave behavior to determine shoal and channel positions. Use of an X-band radar signal provides coverage over a large area (up to 5 km) from a single, low-elevation position and offers continuous operation throughout the night and during low-visibility storm conditions.
$5 SAVES
THOUSAND AND 10 DAYS
PER SITE COMPARED TO TRADITIONAL SURVEYING METHODS
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HIGH-RESOLUTION MONITORING OF NEARSHORE MORPHOLOGIC CHANGE
The Corps’ mission to maintain the U.S. coastline and protect valuable coastal infrastructure from storm damage is costly. Recent data from Western Carolina University notes the total cost of nourishing beaches is nearly $10 billion in the U.S. alone. However, reliable predictive capabilities for nearshore hydrodynamics and morphology changes are needed to optimize project designs, extend project lifecycles and promote more resilient coastlines. Corps research focuses on using novel, high-resolution oceanographic field datasets collected at the ERDC Field Research Facility in Duck, North Carolina, to directly inform development and validation of improved predictive methods for sediment transport and morphology evolution in sandy beach environments. This work has led to improvements in the capabilities and skill of the Corps-developed numerical modeling suite, CSHORE, which can be used to simulate beach nourishment evolution, with particular emphasis on coastline response to extreme storms. Continued advancements through investment in nearshore processes research will enable the Corps to predict morphology change at time scales of relevance for managing coastal sediment resources and optimal sand placement.
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PROBLEM
Understanding and predicting how the coastline evolves over time from days to decades are critical to coastal resiliency planning and infrastructure protection. Coastal change results from complex interactions and feedback between ocean processes, such as waves and currents, and the constantly evolving shape of the seafloor and coastline. The most dramatic changes often happen rapidly during extreme storms when very little data are available to inform model development and improvement.
$30-$50 POTENTIAL SAVINGS MILLION
PER YEAR
SOLUTION
ERDC modelers and field data scientists developed a plan to collect a targeted field dataset that would improve Corps modeling capabilities. Using state-of-theart instrumentation and data collection techniques, Corps researchers are collecting a continuous multi-year data set that quantifies how numerous tropical storms and large Nor’easters impact the coastline.
IMPACT
This research led to development of new algorithms and improved model skill, allowing better predictions of coastal evolution on sandy shorelines. Corps district engineers can now more effectively optimize beach fill placements, leading to a more economical design process. Given the growing cost of nourishing our Nation’s coastlines, improving the ability to more efficiently design and place sediment along our coasts by 3 to 5 percent will lead to $30 to $50 million in savings to the Nation per year.
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MINI-ARGUS NEARSHORE VIDEO IMAGING
Coastal imaging research has been ongoing at the ERDC Field Research Facility for more than 30 years, in collaboration with Oregon State University. Imagery of the coast is exploited to provide information on coastal processes, beach and dune topography, nearshore water depths, sandbar positions and wave run-up elevations. It can also be used to determine the condition of coastal infrastructure and the navigability of harbor or inlet entrances. Mini-Argus is an inexpensive coastal monitoring system that rapidly obtains remote sensing data, and is being transitioned to Corps districts for use in monitoring Coastal Storm Risk Management, navigation and coastal infrastructure projects. The systems will provide the Corps a unique capability to address challenges before, during and after coastal storm risk management actions, such as beach nourishment, by providing cost-efficient and real-time video monitoring of federal beach projects. Such video imagery can quantify metrics of interest to Corps districts, such as public use, safety and geomorphologic change. It can also depict how each of these values is altered by the federal project, even during periods of extreme change, such as storm events.
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SAFE & COSTEFFECTIVE
RAPID DATA COLLECTION
PROBLEM
Corps districts need an improved ability to quickly monitor the state of federal beach projects. Existing insitu monitoring is limited in either temporal duration, spatial coverage, or real-time data accessibility. In addition, it is often time-consuming or dangerous. This is particularly true during storm events, the most disruptive and dynamic conditions when project monitoring is needed most.
SOLUTION
ERDC researchers are developing turn-key coastal imaging hardware and software to provide district engineers near real-time engineering information from coastal imagery. The self-contained and autonomous Mini-Argus hardware can be rapidly deployed near federal beach projects. An associated data framework and web interface allow districts to access near real-time imagery and data within hours of deployment and without the need for a subject matter expert.
IMPACT
Rapid remote sensing data collected from Mini-Argus stations can substantially improve the Corps’ ability to collect coastal geospatial products for project monitoring and immediate decision support without time-consuming and costly field visits. Project response to seasonal and short-term wave and storm events will be better understood, which will enhance planning and impact analysis at beach projects. Corps districts will have high-value coastal monitoring data that will be integrated into engineering decisions and adaptive management practices. 27
PROBLEM
Invasive species such as Asian carp can greatly disrupt U.S. ecosystems and waterborne commerce from the Mississippi basin to the Great Lakes. Optimizing electrical dispersal barrier operations to prevent passage of these invasive species requires detailed information on the pulse amplitude, frequency and duration needed to maintain an effective electrical field. Understanding Asian carp physiological tolerance and burst swim speeds when exposed to electric fields is also important for design, placement and operation of effective barrier systems. Minimizing electrical output to achieve power conservation and reduce operating costs and safety issues is also a major consideration.
PREVENTED ASIAN CARP MIGRATION INTO LAKE MICHIGAN FOR
15+YEARS
PRESERVES HEALTHY
$7 BILLION/YEAR GREAT LAKES FISHERY
SOLUTION
ERDC research uses swim tunnels and flumes to challenge live Asian carp with various combinations of electric pulse amplitude, frequency and duration under varying environmental and water quality conditions. Additional laboratory and field studies on Asian carp swim performance, leaping ability, fecundity and population dynamics improved knowledge of these invasive fish species and are useful for developing barrier design criteria and placement.
IMPACT
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ERDC research provided critical information for establishing effective operational protocols for electric barrier systems. These parameters ensure barrier effectiveness and performance while conserving energy, reducing life cycle operation and maintenance costs, improving safety, and maintaining navigation and environmental missions. The electric dispersal barriers have prevented Asian carp passage into the Great Lakes for more than 15 years, preserving and protecting valuable aquatic resources to benefit the Nation.
ELECTRIC FISH DISPERSAL BARRIERS
Asian carp, specifically bighead and silver carp, are nuisance, non-native invaders of the Mississippi River system and potential invaders of the Great Lakes. Both species are expanding their geographic range and population sizes and threatening native fish populations, commercial fishing and human safety. Effective barrier systems are critical for preventing Asian carp migration into the Great Lakes and for preserving a healthy Great Lakes fishery valued at more than $7 billion per year. The Corps constructed and operates pulsating Direct Current electric barriers in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal (CSSC), the only direct connection between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River basins. These barriers create in-water electric fields that deter the spread of invasive fish species between these two major watersheds. The barriers allow passage of commercial navigation vessels while preventing fish from moving upstream toward the Great Lakes. There are two electric barriers currently operating in the canal, with another permanent barrier under construction. A fourth barrier is in the pre-construction, engineering and design phase at Brandon Road Lock and Dam.
“ERDC’s research has been essential to the success of the CSSC barriers. The barriers must be operated with the correct in-water electric field to stop fish movement, and we base all of our operational electric output on ERDC’s research results.”
Chuck Shea, Project Manager, CSSC Dispersal Barriers, Chicago District
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PROBLEM
Regional coastal elevation data and imagery are required to characterize coastal change and manage sediment as a resource to support navigation, flood risk reduction and ecosystem restoration. The data are also needed to engineer entire coastlines for resilience to acute and long-term coastal hazards.
44+
THOUSAND
SOLUTION
The Joint Airborne LIDAR Bathymetry Technical Center of Expertise (JALBTCX) fielded the Coastal Zone Mapping and Imaging LIDAR (CZMIL) in 2012. This third-generation airborne coastal mapping and charting system, developed by Corps researchers, improves sensor performance in challenging environments, accelerates data delivery, and enables new and better information extraction from collected datasets.
IMPACT
DATA DOWNLOADS
$18 THOUSAND & 12 DAYS
JALBTCX uses CZMIL to collect nationally consistent, regional coastal data for the NCMP, for Corps and FEMA post-hurricane surveys, and for Naval Oceanographic Office Tactical Nautical Charting Surveys. Within the Corps, CZMIL data support regional sediment management, comprehensive coastal studies, smart planning, coastal asset management, and coastal storm modeling. Outside the Corps, CZMIL data are used to produce NOAA nautical charts, USGS coastal studies, and FEMA flood maps. State and local governments use CZMIL data for numerous coastal zone management applications. 30
SAVES
PER MILE OF SHORELINE COMPARED WITH TRADITIONAL SURVEY TECHNIQUES
COASTAL ZONE MAPPING & IMAGING LIDAR Priority coastal areas for the Corps, such as surf zone and turbid waters, present challenges for current LIDAR sensors. Advances in processing bathymetric LIDAR signals and fusion of these signals with ancillary sensor data, such as hyperspectral imagery, have revealed opportunities for more progressive environmental applications of the data. The Coastal Zone Mapping and Imaging LIDAR (CZMIL) is an ongoing sensor development effort within the Corps’ National Coastal Mapping Program (NCMP). The program produces high-quality, high-resolution information products from airborne LIDAR bathymetry, topography and accompanying RedGreen-Blue and hyperspectral imagery data around the U.S. coasts on a recurring basis. New information products have been developed for the Corps and the Nation by further analyzing and fusing CZMIL’s LIDAR and imagery data streams. The current product suite includes: LIDAR point clouds, digital elevation models, laser reflectance images, air photo and hyperspectral image mosaics, a shoreline vector, and elevation shoreline and beach volume change. Products currently in development are beach and dune geomorphology metrics, dune vegetation and submerged aquatic vegetation metrics, coastal structure metrics, and water quality parameters.
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MICROBOTIC INFRASTRUCTURE ASSESSMENT
Penstocks are long steel tubes that carry water from the upstream side of a dam to hydroelectric turbines deep in the dam superstructure. Due to difficulty inspecting them, ERDC research is developing a small, robust, operational, unmanned, micro-inspection robot called Microbot. The Microbot requires little to no skill to operate because it uses a suite of onboard sensors to map the penstock and navigate from one end to the other without human input, avoiding obstacles along the way. The Microbot illuminates the penstock interior with onboard LEDs and collects imagery for the entire penstock circumference as the robot flies down the center of the tube. Software developed for the Microbot processes imagery and LIDAR data collected by the robot into formats that can be used in semiautomated post-flight virtual inspections. Machine learning algorithms automatically detect areas where the penstock lining is corroded or otherwise compromised and presents them to inspection engineers for further investigation.
REDUCES RISK TO PERSONNEL & INSPECTION TIME
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PROBLEM
Penstocks that are not routinely inspected and properly maintained can result in powerhouse flooding, leading to high repair and outage costs, plus the potential loss of life and reservoir pool. Penstock inspections pose a number of safety risks to personnel, including mechanical equipment and water control lockage, climbing, air quality, slippery surfaces, extremely confined spaces, inadequate lighting and metal edges. The time needed to complete inspections and subsequent repair can extend power generation outages.
SOLUTION
The Microbot provides an operational capability to inspect the confined space of penstocks with no personnel inside. Using this new capability, imagery for virtual penstock inspection is collected much faster, more completely and with greater safety. The imagery provides a historical record of interior penstock condition that can be compared with subsequent imagery for change detection and condition tracking.
SPEEDS INSPECTIONS & ARCHIVES DATA
IMPACT
Microbotic penstock inspections eliminate the need for personnel to enter the penstock for inspections, greatly reducing personnel risk from a number of safety hazards. The speed of microbotic penstock inspections means any necessary penstock repairs start sooner, reducing the length of power generation outages. A digital virtual penstock built from microbotic penstock imagery is preserved in perpetuity for accurate tracking of condition and repairs. 33
PROBLEM
Marshes provide hundreds of millions of dollars in flood reduction and ecological benefits. Many marshes are sediment starved and face increasing stress. There is a great need to advance and improve dredging and marsh restoration techniques to retain dredged sediment in the system to benefit natural ecosystems and reduce coastal risk from storms.
SOLUTION
The Seven Mile Island Innovation Laboratory was launched to conduct innovative, collaborative research with significant ecological value and practical applications. Its research is being used to identify baseline dredged material placement site conditions and initial designs; develop placement strategies that strive to mimic natural processes; coordinate with resource agencies; and construct placements of dredged material. The laboratory also provides a venue to evaluate adaptive management strategies to benefit long-term sustainable practices.
IMPACT
34
The Seven Mile Island Innovation Laboratory is improving the Corps’ ability to maintain safe navigation channels while retaining dredged sediment in the system to enhance natural ecosystems and their flood risk reduction and environmental benefits. The laboratory is resulting in a more innovative and cost-efficient dredging program, with the potential to save at least $500 thousand annually in dredging and placement costs for coastal New Jersey alone. Nation-wide application of methods tested at the laboratory would save the Corps more than $200 million per year in intercoastal waterway dredging and placement activities.
SEVEN MILE ISLAND INNOVATION LABORATORY
Many marshes are sediment starved, amplifying the need for innovative methods to repurpose dredged material from navigation channels and use it to nourish these marshes. The Corps’ Philadelphia District launched the Seven Mile Island Innovation Laboratory to advance and improve dredging and marsh restoration techniques in coastal New Jersey. The partnership between the district, the state of New Jersey, the non-profit The Wetlands Institute and the ERDC leverages Engineering With NatureŽ principles and regional sediment management expertise through innovative research, collaboration, knowledge sharing and practical application. The innovation laboratory provides a forum to advance technical knowledge, demonstrate novel approaches and enhance collaborative efforts on new projects. It functions as a think tank to develop and demonstrate innovative techniques so these projects can gain more widespread application.
POTENTIAL SAVINGS OF
$200
INTERCOASTAL WATERWAY & MILLION DREDGING PER YEAR ACTIVITIES
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PROBLEM
The Corps has spent nearly $6 million annually since 2005 (more than $79 million total) on conservation and compliance for federally endangered Interior population of Least Terns (ILT) that breed and nest on interior river sandbars. The impacts span multiple civil works missions and cover many projects across multiple Corps divisions and districts.
SOLUTION
The Dredging Operations and Environmental Research (DOER) program and ERDC scientists led a 10-year collaboration with American Bird Conservancy, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Corps divisions and districts to support ILT recovery and delisting. DOER supported a rangewide survey, developed a range-wide ILT meta-population model to evaluate population persistence across a number of management scenarios, and collaborated on conservation plans and a cost-effective post-listing monitoring plan.
IMPACT
In October 2019, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service published a draft rule to remove the ILT from Endangered Species Act protection. With an approximately $2 million research investment from DOER over a 10-year period, delisting will produce lower operational expenditures and increased mission and operational flexibility. The projected return on investment for the $2 million research commitment is expected to be 20:1 over the next 10 years. 36
DELISTING THE INTERIOR LEAST TERN
Interior Least Terns (ILT) are colonial, fish-eating birds that breed and nest on sand bars within active channels of large sand bed rivers of the Great Plains and in the Lower Mississippi River Valley. The species was listed as endangered in 1985. The Corps spends about $240 million annually on the conservation, management and compliance for species protected by the Endangered Species Act (ESA), including nearly $6 million annually since 2005 on conservation and compliance for the ILT population. Through research funded by the Corps’ Dredging Operations and Environmental Research Program, the ILT was removed from ESA protection, which is expected to save approximately $4 million per year over the next 10 years in dredging and placement costs.
20:1 PROJECTED
RETURN ON INVESTMENT OVER THE NEXT 10 YEARS
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ENGINEERING WITH NATUREÂŽ TO PRODUCE HORIZONTAL LEVEES
Horizontal Levees offer a unique opportunity to create additional benefits in association with traditional approaches to Coastal Storm Risk Management (CSRM) projects. Rather than relying on the steep slope of a traditional levee system, these levees consider a more flat slope of added sediment — an augmentation to the traditional levee footprint. The resulting grade allows for high and low marsh plants to recruit, thereby colonizing the toe of the levee. The complementary addition results in wetlands that support the levee structure, further reducing wave impacts. The Sabine Pass to Galveston Bay CSRM and Ecosystem Restoration Project proposes an extensive network of levees and flood walls as part of the overall flood-risk reduction strategy. Orange County, Texas, is located in the study area, where 15.6 miles of traditional levees and 10.7 miles of flood walls are proposed. In this area alone, integrating 2.6 miles of horizontal levees would create more than 100 acres of new marsh habitat in locations where hundreds of acres of fragmented and/or degraded marsh currently exist that would benefit from this action. Nearby residents would be able to access the levee feature for birding, walking and other recreational activities. Dredged sediment derived from navigation channel maintenance would be used to construct the levees, offering a much improved method for managing sediment resources within coastal systems.
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PROBLEM
Use of traditional levees for CSRM creates a near vertical barrier that prevents marsh vegetation from shifting as water levels increase within a given system. Marsh vegetation can be “squeezed” out of existence and a valuable natural resource is ultimately lost due to changes in environmental conditions over time. The barriers created by traditional levees also restrict the view shed and limit coastal communities from enjoying many social and cultural experiences.
$625 MILLION
IN FLOOD DAMAGE AVOIDANCE
DURING SUPERSTORM SANDY
SOLUTION
Engineering With Nature® strategies were combined with a landscape architectural approach to horizontal levees, revealing additional economic, environmental and social value. Dredged sediment is used to create the horizontal levees that achieve CSRM goals, introduce compatible materials to the levee, and create a more purposeful slope for vegetation. Leveraging dredging events results in an economically-feasible means to maintain and adaptively manage the levees, keeping sediment in the system.
IMPACT
The recruitment of marsh within the footprint of the horizontal levee promotes additional resilience that protects adjacent coastal communities and industry with infrastructure valued in excess of $500 million. Following Hurricane Sandy, marsh was shown to produce more than $625 million in engineering value through avoided flood damage. Moreover, a marsh is more sustainable and will continue to support an approximately $200 million/year seafood industry in coastal Texas. And recent studies suggest that recreational amenities such as walking paths, create $3 to $10 in health benefits for every $1 spent to construct and maintain the feature.
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DREDGING IMPACT ON ATLANTIC STURGEON MIGRATION Many states have implemented time-of-year restriction windows on federal dredging projects to avoid potential dredge-related risks to sensitive biological resources or habitats. Currently, states along the East Coast have established environmental windows for fish that migrate from salt water to spawn in fresh water. This includes the federally endangered Atlantic Sturgeon (ATS). Since 2012, several studies have documented that ATS spawning occurs during both spring and fall within distinct river systems. The discovery of multiple spawning seasons has resulted in modifications to existing ATS population-monitoring strategies and has raised concerns with state and federal agencies with respect to expanding protection of migratory fish into the fall months. Although dredging is listed as a threat to ATS recovery, there are limited data on the dredging effects and on ATS movement near a dredge. The Corps has conducted a novel field study using acoustic telemetry to determine how adult ATS, migrating to spawning habitats, move around an active dredge. Using fine spatial-scale data to characterize ATS movements around an operating dredge is critical to determining whether environmental windows are necessary to protect spawning ATS from dredging activities.
40
PROBLEM
There is concern about the potential impacts of dredging activities — excavation, transit, disposal and noise — on the endangered Atlantic Sturgeon. Prior to conducting acoustic telemetry field studies, there were limited data on fish movement and feeding behavior near an active dredge, yet restrictions remained.
SOLUTION
Corps researchers studied the movement patterns of more than 100 tagged sturgeon while they were migrating to spawning grounds in Virginia’s James River with an active cutterhead dredge in their migration path. Fine-scale acoustic telemetry indicated that adult and sub-adult sturgeon preferred to stay in the navigation channel where the dredge was working. They also moved past the active dredge unharmed and successfully reached their spawning habitat farther upstream.
IMPACT
40-75% IN AVAILABLE DREDGE TIME INCREASE
This study provided scientific evidence that cutterhead dredging does not affect ATS spawning migrations. Removing the timing restriction based on this evidence would increase the available time for dredging by 40-75 percent. This increase would enable more time for active dredging, more competitive bidding, decreased operational costs and increased operational flexibility. 41
PROBLEM
50
SUPPORTS FUTURE COASTAL ENGINEERS & SCIENTISTS
37
ACADEMIC STUDIES INITIATED
Coastal researchers noted a decline in the number of U.S. coastal research graduates, which directly impacts the ability to expand coastal engineering in the U.S. However, the need for coastal researchers continues to grow as coastal populations increase, storms become more intense and infrastructure continues to age. Meanwhile, coastal research funding is declining, increasing the need to improve and broaden collaboration efforts to stretch research dollars.
SOLUTION
A collaboration of federal agencies, academia and stakeholders was formed to identify coastal research priorities, foster research opportunities and enhance funding for academic programs. The effort provides a mechanism for coastal research collaboration, and identifies gaps in knowledge requiring R&D that can be prioritized and accomplished through combined federal, academic, and non-governmental partnering. It will also expand the coastal workforce.
IMPACT
42
One of three primary priorities identified by the collaboration was the measurement of processes and impacts during storms. The DUNEX 2019 pilot study and 2020 full experiments will allow coastal researchers to collect observations and run concurrent models during storms to improve knowledge of and prediction capabilities for storm processes and impacts. Considering all three coastal priority themes, USCRP has initiated 37 academic studies for more than 50 students, two of whom were subsequently hired by the Corps after completing their doctorates through USCRP funding.
U.S. COASTAL RESEARCH PROGRAM
The U.S. Coastal Research Program (USCRP) was formed to develop, coordinate and enable a national science plan to address growing needs of coastal communities. USCRP is a collaboration of federal agencies, academics and stakeholders to identify research needs, foster research opportunities, enhance funding for academic programs and promote technology transfer. The program identifies coastal research priorities, advances knowledge in coastal sciences, expands the coastal workforce and improves communication of coastal hazards to communities. Since inception, the USCRP has initiated 37 academic studies supporting more than 50 students. The USCRP is facilitating the DUring Nearshore Event eXperiment (DUNEX), a collaborative field data collection effort to better understand during-storm processes and impacts, as well as post-storm recovery. The DUNEX 2019 Pilot Study included 18 research teams, 14 students, 36 hours of classroom and field training, six technical talks open to researchers and the general public, and 13 virtual “coffee breaks� designed for researcher collaboration.
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PROBLEM
Coastal areas are vulnerable to devastating storm surge and waves, with national implications increasing as coastal populations and infrastructure increase. The threat is exacerbated by sea level rise and potential changes in the frequency and severity of hurricane hazards. This includes compound flooding events of surge, rainfall and fluvial flooding. Corps coastal engineers and navigation managers need accurate estimates of storm surge and waves to assess storm damage risk to coastal communities and coastal infrastructure.
SOLUTION
CSTORM-MS provides a robust, accurate, and standardized approach to characterize storm hazards that put coastal communities at risk. The state-of-theart system assesses the coastal storm hazard with an efficient workflow that is easy to configure and execute. It allows for multi-scale numerical scenarios for reducing the uncertainty of storm impacts to existing structures and for the design of new flood-risk reduction projects, including natural and nature-based features.
IMPACT
CSTORM-MS has been used for numerous regional coastal studies. In addition to being applied by the Corps, the system is being applied by FEMA for flood risk mapping and by the Nuclear Regulatory Agency for assessing coastal flood risk at its power plants. Timely and accurate flood risk quantifications save millions of dollars in new construction costs, such as by lowering uncertainties for structure heights. CSTORM-MS is also used to populate the Coastal Hazard Systems database. 44
SAVES $100S OF MILLIONS
OF DOLLARS IN REGIONAL CONSTRUCTION COSTS
COASTAL STORM MODELING SYSTEM
Most existing coastal storm modeling systems focus on developing effective empirical tuning methods for optimizing calibration. This works well for operational systems but does not address critical needs for advancing modeling technology. A robust, high-fidelity, and standardized approach to accurately establish the risk of coastal communities to future occurrences of storm events is needed to inform effective and efficient flood risk reduction. Corps researchers have produced the Coastal Storm Modeling System (CSTORM-MS), a comprehensive system of highly skilled and highly resolved models to simulate coastal storms and accurately assess risk to coastal communities. With physics-based modeling, CSTORM-MS integrates a suite of highfidelity storm modeling tools to support a wide range of coastal engineering needs. The driving processes are tropical and extra-tropical storms; wind, wave and water levels; and coastal response, including erosion, breaching and accretion. The system has been applied by the Corps’ North Atlantic Coast Comprehensive Study, the Coastal Texas Comprehensive Study, the Alabama Coast Comprehensive Study and the South Atlantic Coast Study, as well as by the state of Louisiana for its entire coastal area.
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RISK MANAGEMENT CENTER-BESTFIT
For risk assessment of dams and levees, the probability of failure is always conditional on the magnitude of hydrologic loading or the mass of water stored in the environment. Therefore, it is imperative to determine credible estimates of exceedance probabilities of extreme floods that could lead to failure. Design floods for most dams and levees have return periods of 1:100 or less frequent. High hazard dams are designed to pass the Probable Maximum Flood, which typically has a return period of 1:10,000 or less frequent.
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PROBLEM
Most projects in the U.S. have limited flood information, with most sites having fewer than 100 years of gauged flow data. Consequently, the greatest source of error in return period and estimates in a flood frequency analysis is often inadequate data. In order to reduce uncertainties in the estimated probability of occurrence for extreme floods, it is important to incorporate as much hydrologic information into the frequency analysis as possible.
SOLUTION
The Corps’ Risk Management Center (RMC) collaborated with ERDC to develop RMCBestFit to enhance and expedite flood hazard assessments. The software employs a Bayesian analysis framework for combining limited atsite flood data with temporal information from historic and paleofloods; spatial information from regional precipitation frequency and regional skew analyses; and causal information on flood processes.
UP TO $1 MILLION TOTAL SAVINGS IN DAM SAFETY EVALUATION STUDIES
IMPACT
The Corps can now achieve accurate flood hazard assessments with significantly less time and effort. By including more hydrologic information, RMC-BestFit provides more accurate estimates of design flood return probabilities, which will reduce the chances for over- or under-design and improve overall dam safety investment decisions. Meanwhile, using RMC-BestFit can result in total annual savings of $500 thousand to $1 million across the Corps in dam safety evaluation studies.
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RIVER HYDRAULICS MODEL QUANTIFIES FLOODING IMPACTS
Engineers across the world now have more advanced and detailed hydraulic modeling tools to solve real-world problems. The Corps’ Hydrologic Engineering Center’s River Analysis System (HECRAS) visualization tools, such as RAS Mapper, help modelers better understand the hydraulic results and make it much easier to convey those modeling results to decision makers and the public. More than 95 percent of all Corps riverine hydraulic studies use HEC-RAS. More than 95 percent of all FEMA floodplain and floodway studies performed over the past 20 years were developed with HEC-RAS. Adopted by the National Weather Service, FEMA and the Department of Transportation for a variety of uses, HEC-RAS simplifies coordination between federal agencies during emergencies.
$2.5 SAVINGS PER YEAR MILLION
48
IN RIVER HYDRAULIC STUDIES
PROBLEM
High river levels from increased runoff from rain and snowmelt are a threat to both life and property. Tools are needed to assist local governments, resource managers and emergency management during these extreme events. The tools are required to estimate flood levels, provide information to guide reservoir operations, evaluate the potential for levee overtopping and breaching, produce flood inundation maps, and estimate consequences of levee and dam failure.
SOLUTION
Research has added many new features and tools to HEC-RAS to improve hydraulic modeling accuracy. Improved software workflow has reduced the time and cost to develop and calibrate a model. These improvements have also allowed for a much quicker response during flood emergencies. For example, an HEC-RAS model was rapidly created during a flood event for the Arkansas River. This model was used for forecasting, inundation mapping, and breach scenarios for the 2019 floods.
IMPACT
HEC-RAS has more than 100,000 users internationally from 200 countries. The software is applied to thousands of applications world-wide every year. Research investments in HEC-RAS have saved approximately 50 percent time on studies such as for the Arkansas River, where it also saved approximately $50 thousand per similar application. Assuming 50 of these type of studies per year are conducted Corps-wide, R&D improvements are resulting in $2.5 million in savings annually. 49
PROBLEM
The Charleston Harbor Post-45 Navigation Improvement Project included channel deepening and required monitoring of vessel-induced wake along several adjacent critically eroding islands protected by the State Historical Preservation Office of South Carolina and the National Park Service. This problem occurs in many other locations.
SOLUTION
A suite of Corps R&D technologies provided a baseline for quantifying mitigation measures related to deepening the navigation channel. Information included a combination of wave- and water-level field data collection, Automatic Identification System vessel transit analyses, and rigorous analyses of nonanthropogenic background energy, such as wind and tides. This provided a real-time, operational picture of change to the wave energy received along critical shorelines within the estuary.
IMPACT
Collected baseline data and analysis of vessel wake and ambient wave energy post-project demonstrated the limited impact to critical resources at the project. The analysis resulted in a positive relationship with stakeholders at the state and federal level. The baseline information gathered for this study and the validation of numerical tools have the potential to save the Corps millions of dollars in mitigation requirements. 50
NAVIGATION IMPROVEMENT MONITORING
Improvements to Corps navigation projects located near environmentally sensitive habitats or critically eroding shorelines require rigorous analyses of vessel traffic behavior impacts. Many projects are subject to review and subsequent mitigation, where modifications to the navigation channel have resulted in increased shoreline erosion attributed to vessel wake. Mitigation costs are substantial and often required well after the appropriated budget for the navigation project improvement is completed.
POTENTIAL SAVINGS OF
MILLIONS
OF DOLLARS IN MITIGATION REQUIREMENTS
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IMAGINING THE FUTURE THROUGH R&D INNOVATION
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INTEGRATING MEASUREMENTS, MACHINE LEARNING & MODELS Imagine a future in which weather forecasts and numerical methods are combined with measured and assimilated river and coastal data to predict navigation channel shoaling, flooding and ecosystem impacts on watershed scales, nationwide. In this future scenario, the Corps will work with federal, state and local partners to integrate available data sources such as vessel traffic and navigation data, condition observations and forecasts to inform safe and efficient scheduling and routing through waterways and ports. Regional experts will use real-time river and coastal measurements, satellite imagery, pre-calculated numerical model predictions, water quality data, and anticipated weather patterns weeks to months in advance to predict impacts to Corps operations for large riverine and coastal systems. The integrated system will use machine learning to continuously understand dynamic changes throughout the system to aid decision makers. Shoaling forecasts will be used to position dredges to rapidly remove sediment that hinders safe and efficient vessel transit. Anticipated extreme runoff, flooding and riverine hydraulics will be used to trigger flood mitigation methods, prepare automated flood walls, and mitigate nutrient runoff and ecosystem response.
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AUTONOMOUS NAVIGATION CHANNEL SURVEYS
Documenting coastal and inland navigation channel conditions is a major mission of the Corps that requires significant resources and places survey crews in hazardous conditions. Cost and safety concerns could be alleviated by remotely and continuously monitoring channel conditions with expendable, autonomous survey devices. Hundreds of small, low-cost, disposable underwater survey devices could be thrown into navigable waters to collect extensive data and transmit it to Corps offices and vessel pilots for real-time awareness. These devices could also measure other data of interest, such as water quality, fish movement through lock ladder systems, and infrastructure conditions. This technology would dramatically reduce costs of regular bathymetric data collection, speed transmission of accurate data on a continuous basis, and decrease the potential for human injury and loss of life.
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DATA ANALYTICS FOR ENHANCED NAVIGATION MISSION READINESS
Numerous large enterprise data sets have been established and maintained over many years by the Corps’ Navigation business line. However, sifting through this information and applying it to meaningful queries is an ongoing challenge. Modern computing environments now offer powerful data analysis and visualization capabilities to unlock corporate knowledge previously out of reach to navigation managers and decision makers. Dredging cost effectiveness, availability metrics for the portfolio of navigation channels, hopper fleet availability trends, and many other questions can be answered with quantitative, scalable and repeatable data queries. Even modest percentage gains in efficiency can free up significant resources to be applied against the large backlog of maintenance dredging, infrastructure rehabilitations and deferred upkeep actions. Applied nationwide through a comprehensive framework, advanced data analytics for navigation can achieve savings in the tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars annually.
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HARNESS THE POWER OF ERDC AT
ERDCINFO@USACE.ARMY.MIL PUBLISH DATE: FEBRUARY 2020 APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE DISTRIBUTION UNLIMITED AUTHORED AND EDITED BY: USACE CIVIL WORKS R&D TEAM ERDC CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS OFFICE DESIGNED BY: ERDC INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY
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REPORT NUMBER: ERDC/B-20-1
