CIRP October 2013 eNewsletter
Issue 33, October 2013
In this Newsletter:
Status of CIRP as a Result of the Government Shutdown and Furlough
We hope that most of our eNewsletter recipients are not furloughed, and hope that those who are will return to work soon. The CIRP team is fully funded through ongoing reimbursable studies that have continued from FY13 and is therefore available for CMS/GenCade support. However, our CIRP R&D is on hold until CRA funding comes through.
Congratulations to CIRP’s Dr. Alex Sanchez!
CIRP is very proud to congratulate Dr. Alejandro Sanchez for successfully completing defense of his PhD at the University of Mississippi, entitled “An Implicit Finite-Volume Depth-Integrated Model for Coastal Hydrodynamics and Multiple-Sized Sediment Transport.” Dr. Sanchez began his PhD study at U of Miss with encouragement from Dr. Nicholas C. Kraus in 2008 with Dr. Weiming Wu as his advisor. He completed his coursework in 1 year, conducted his research with partial CIRP funding, weekends and evenings, and defended this past July 2013. Dr. Sanchez’s Dissertation is available on the CIRP website for those interested in his research, http://cirp.usace.army.mil/pubs/theses.php. In the image, Dr. Sanchez is wearing a "PhD medal" awarded to him by his son, Emmanuel.
POC: (ERDC) Julie Rosati, Julie.D.Rosati@usace.army.mil
Review of CIRP in FY13
What did CIRP do for you in FY13? CIRP published 10 CHETNs, 7 Conference Papers, 5 journal articles and 3 book chapters, 6 Technical Reports, and provided support for one Dissertation. CIRP also supported 2 poster presentations and gave two webinars: GenCade in October 2012 and the Sediment Budget Calculator in July 2013; both are posted for viewing on the CIRP website. CIRP continues to support our wiki pages and has cumulatively produced more than 222 pages! CIRP PIs supported inlet navigation studies at 14 sites on the Pacific, Gulf, Atlantic, and Great Lakes coasts. One of our most important and enjoyable activities is working with our District partners to provide support for you in applied studies. We invite more communication with the CIRP team on your inlet navigation questions and concerns in FY14.
POC: (ERDC) Julie Rosati, Julie.D.Rosati@usace.army.mil
Welcome back to the CIRP Website
Did you miss the CIRP website these past weeks? We’ve had many USACE and outside organization queries as to why the website couldn’t be accessed. The webserver that hosts the CIRP and RSM websites was hacked on August 16th, and, as a result, had to be reassembled and put through a battery of vulnerability tests. Several factors were addressed and the server should be much more reliable into the future. Additionally during this process, the server was moved to a Gigabit network port which will allow for much faster response than previously.
Those looking for the CIRP wiki will find that it is still not operational. Due to increased security measures taken by ACE-IT, the CIRP wiki must be moved to an off-site server. We have found a host and are working to get CIRP’s wiki back up and running as soon as possible. The new direct link to the CIRP wiki will be http://cirpwiki.info.
The figure above shows the broad international access of the CIRP website from Aug 2012 to Aug 2013. Please let us know if you have suggestions for the website, http://cirp.usace.army.mil.
POC: (ERDC) Mitch Brown, mitchell.e.brown@usace.army.mil
Coastal Modeling System (CMS) Application to Fire Island Inlet, NY
Fire Island Inlet (FII) was dredged approximately 700K cu yd in February 2013. The New York District, USACE, will dredge an additional 1 Mill cu yd in late summer 2013 for placement on adjacent beaches: Gilgo, Tobay, and Town of Babylon. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) is interested in emergency dredging of an additional 1.2 Mill cu yd for placement on Robert Moses State Park Atlantic Ocean shoreline, updrift of FII. This volume of sand removed from FII within a year would be unprecedented, and there are concerns about changes to the hydrodynamics of the inlet. A fast-track, numerical hydrodynamic modeling study is underway to evaluate the various dredge scenarios and their effects to tidal exchange within Great South Bay. Dr. Kelly Legault, SAJ, in collaboration with the CIRP, has developed a Coastal Modeling System (CMS) telescoping grid to evaluate the FII dredging scenarios and report back to New York District. Results from the analysis will be used to acquire necessary permits with the State to continue to utilize the FII navigation channel and shoal sediments as beneficial use of dredged material for Post-Sandy recovery projects.
POC: (SAJ) Dr. Kelly Legault, Kelly.R.Legault@usace.army.mil
POC: (ERDC) Ms. Tanya Beck, Tanya.M.Beck@usace.army.mil
Modeling Study for Tangier Island Jetties, Tangier Island, VA
The Norfolk District (CENAO) maintains a shallow draft navigation channel on Tangier Island, VA, in the Chesapeake Bay that bisects the island from east to west and is heavily used by the local fishing fleet. CENAO is considering the construction of structures to protect the western entrance of the channel and reduce the wave energy in the lee of the structures. CHL has completed a numerical modeling study to assist the CENAO by investigating how the waves, hydrodynamics, and sedimentation would be affected by such structures. The study identified the optimal location of structures, evaluated five alternatives and selected the best performing alternative, and provided CENAO preliminary structure design estimates (e.g., length, orientation, crest elevation and width, stone size etc). The results of the CMS-Wave were used in the design calculations, including structural stability, runup/ overtopping, and transmission estimates. A report was provided to CENAO describing details of the study, results, and recommendations.
POC: (ERDC) Zeki Demirbilek, Zeki.Demirbilek@usace.army.mil
POC: (ERDC) Lihwa Lin, Lihwa.Lin@usace.army.mil
POC: (ERDC) Don Ward, Donald.Ward@usace.army.mil
POC: (ERDC) Dave King, David.King@usace.army.mil
Tech-Transfer Workshop at the Portland District
A Particle Tracking Model (PTM) and Coastal Modeling System (CMS) workshop was hosted by the Corps' Portland District on 24 September 2013. The one-day workshop focused on the development and application of the Lagrangian-based PTM in modeling and understanding coastal, estuarine, and riverine sediment transport processes and a wide range of natural and anthropogenic processes in environmental studies. As one of the hydrodynamic models that is linked to the PTM, the features and applications of the CMS were introduced. The hands-on section was operated in the Surface-water Modeling System (SMS), a graphic user interface for the PTM and the CMS, and conducted by demonstrating the PTM configuration, particle source specification, and output analysis.
POC: (ERDC) Honghai Li, Honghai.Li@usace.army.mil
POC: (ERDC) Tahirih Lackey, Tahirih.C.Lackey@usace.army.mil
Engineer Research & Development Center
3909 Halls Ferry Road, Coastal & Hydraulics Laboratory
Vicksburg, MS 39180
251-635-9519