CIRP October 2014 eNewsletter
Issue 35, October 2014
In this Newsletter:
CIRP FY15 Webinar #1, Friday 24 Oct 2014, 10-11 CENTRAL
CIRP FY15 Webinar #1, Friday 24 Oct, 10-11 CENTRAL – CIRP will be hosting several webinars this FY (see last paragraph, below) and our first Webinar will be held on Inlet Breaching R&D (addressing Statement of Need SoN 2014-N-14) on Friday, 24 Oct, 10-11 am CENTRAL. If you are interested in participating, please email Julie Rosati and she will forward the invite. We envision a 30-min presentation followed by (or interspersed with) 30 min discussion. Additional webinars will have separate invites as follows: Webinar #2 - AISAP (AIS analysis package) and CPT (Channel Portfolio Tool)/CSMART (Coastal Structure Management and Ranking Tool) Tools and plans (tentatively 11 Nov 2014, 1 pm CENTRAL); Webinar #3 - CMS (Coastal Modeling System) and sediment transport R&D (TBD); Webinar #4 - “Long-term morphology change at inlets and SLR R&D (TBD);” Webinar #5 – “Dune design and recovery R&D” (tentatively 21 Jan 2015, 1 pm CENTRAL); Webinar #6 – “Berm R&D in CIRP” (TBD); Webinar #7 - “WaveNet/TideNet” (tentatively Mar-May 2015).
POC: (ERDC) Julie Rosati, Julie.D.Rosati@usace.army.mil
CIRP Researchers Invade South Texas
CIRP researchers descended on South Padre Island, Texas for an intensive field data collection effort in support of navigation research for Brazos Harbor Inlet (BHI) and Gulf Intercoastal Waterway (GIWW). The project aims to better understand shoaling processes within the inlet navigation channel and sediment sharing with the adjacent shorelines. Historical information suggests the inlet is shoaling at an accelerated rate and these measurements will help determine the mechanisms influencing shoaling including sediment transport pathways and deposition rates. Researchers collected 60 sediment samples in Laguna Madre and the adjacent beaches and deployed four long-term tide gauges and two bottom mounted acoustic current and wave sensors. The instruments will be deployed for one year to capture seasonal variations in wave, water, and wind conditions and this information will be used to calibrate state-of-the-art numerical models to quantify sediment transport patterns. Repeat bathymetric surveys will be conducted to generate time history maps of bed elevation changes, to be correlated with wave and current climatology for the region. In addition, ship surveys measuring full water column currents, sediment concentration profiles, salinity, and temperature at fixed stations will provide critical information on how tidal variation affects the hydrodynamics of Laguna Madre and BHI.
POC: (ERDC) Richard Styles, Richard.Styles@usace.army.mil
Mixed Sediment Erosion
In many natural environments, the sediment bed consists of sand and mud mixtures which have complex erosion behaviors. While the erosion characteristics of purely cohesive or non-cohesive sediments have been studied extensively, sediment mixtures have not been studied and constitute a major research gap and weakness in existing predictive models. A series of experiments funded by CIRP have been completed by Jarrell Smith, David Perkey, and Antony Priestas to measure the erosion threshold and rate as a function of the fine sediment fraction. Initial data analysis highlights the significant effect a small fraction of fines can have on the sediment mixture erosion characteristics. In general the results indicate a strong decrease in the erosion rate with increasing fine content to approximately 20-40% followed by a gentle decrease at higher fine contents. The erosion threshold shows the inverse behavior of the erosion rate. Subsequent work will focus on developing predictive formula of fractional sediment erosion for mixed sediments.
POC: (ERDC) Alex Sánchez, alejandro.sanchez@usace.army.mil
Chief Research Scientist of Republic of Korea Environment Institute (KEI) Visits ERDC
Dr. Kwangwoo Cho, Chief Research Scientist of KEI under the Office of Prime Minister of ROK visited ERDC Vicksburg, 22-23 September. CIRP and KEI are cooperating on a pilot study, “Vulnerability Assessment Model of Climate Change: Application to Korean Coast”, to apply the CIRP's Coastal Modeling System for an upcoming comprehensive impact assessment and development of adaptation strategies related to sea level rise and climate change at the national level in Korea. The purpose of the visit was to gain a better understanding of ERDC’s research on quantitative risk assessment regarding existing and future coastal development. During his visit, Dr. Cho discussed the ongoing pilot study with CIRP scientists and engineers and he also met with other researchers from Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory, Environmental Laboratory, and Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory and discussed potential future collaborations between KEI and ERDC.
POC: (ERDC) Honghai Li, Honghai.Li@usace.army.mil
CIRP FY14 Products and FY15 Plans
Curious about what CIRP produced in FY14? We had 17 publications (6 TRs, 7 TNs, 4 JPs), 5 webinars, workshops, or video clips; and produced two upgrades or new products. For more information, please see the CIRP website: http://cirp.usace.army.mil/. In FY15, CIRP will be initiating several new R&D thrusts: inlet breaching (Statement of Need (SoN) 2014-N-14), long-term morphology change including the effects of relative sea level rise on navigation projects (2008-N-6, 2012-N-11, 2011-N-4), dune resiliency and recovery (2014-N-10, and partially addressing SoN 2014-N-7), advances to nearshore placement evolution and predictive capability (2013-N-6, 2011-N-15), and advances to the Coastal Modeling System including capability to deepen channels (e.g., dredge) during simulations. Research and Development will continue in the Automated Information Service (AIS) Analysis Package (AISAP) (2012-N-5), Channel Portfolio Tool (CPT; 2009-N-8), Coastal Structure Management, Analysis and Ranking Tool (CSMART), and WaveNet tools (2011-N-10).
POC: (ERDC) Julie Rosati, Julie.D.Rosati@usace.army.mil
Engineer Research & Development Center
3909 Halls Ferry Road, Coastal & Hydraulics Laboratory
Vicksburg, MS 39180
251-635-9519