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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