Engineer Research and Development Center News

ERDC’s biopolymer research group conducts overtopping field study

Kaley Skaggs, public affairs specialist — Fri, 17 Jan 2025 16:27:40 GMT

The U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) is going “over the top” to solve challenges with innovative experiments. Recently, ERDC’s biopolymer research group conducted an overtopping field study of one of their experimental embankments.

ERDC looks to modernize flood models with levee vegetation index

Justin Campfield, ERDC public affairs specialist — Tue, 05 Nov 2024 14:48:00 GMT

A multidisciplinary ERDC team is working to modernize widely used flood models such as StormSim and Hydrologic Engineering Center software by developing a vegetation index that more comprehensively quantifies vegetation stability on coastal levees. The index will incorporate an array of ecological measurements, such as root/shoot ratios, evapotranspiration rates, soil moisture, vegetation shear, root strength, and vegetation age, size and type.

Probabilistic models aid the long-term assessment of coastal dune stability

Carol Coleman, ERDC public affairs specialist — Wed, 30 Oct 2024 20:57:00 GMT

Researchers at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) are working on a set of tools to assist coastal planners in forecasting the evolution of coastlines and coastal dunes to help inform decision making and basic planning efforts.

Analyzing levees to save lives

Justus Reed, ERDC Public Affairs Specialist — Mon, 29 Apr 2024 20:15:00 GMT

The Levee Screening Tool (LST) 2 is a web-based application that quantifies risk estimates based on the likelihood of flood loading, expected performance of the levee under those loads and the potential consequences of a levee breach or overtopping.

Protecting Dam Facilities with innovative new technology

Kaley Skaggs, ERDC public affairs specialist — Mon, 29 Apr 2024 20:02:00 GMT

As terrorists and extremist groups turn to less sophisticated methods to inflict harm, the use of vehicles in these types of attacks has shown the potential for catastrophic damages to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) projects. In response, USACE researchers developed the DETER (Deployable Expedient Traffic Entry Regulator) vehicle barrier for Soft Asset Protection at Dam Facilities.

Researchers develop tools to forecast risk of potential infrastructure failure

Carol Coleman, U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center — Thu, 25 Jan 2024 17:20:30 GMT

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) operates and maintains approximately 740 dams and associated structures that provide significant, multiple benefits to the nation. In order to effectively operate and maintain those dams, USACE applies risk-informed decision making to evaluate, prioritize and justify dam safety decisions. Using risk information allows the organization to repair its dams in the most effective manner within a constrained budget.

Understanding Global Hydrology

Justus Reed, U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center — Tue, 14 Nov 2023 21:07:00 GMT

Scientists with the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s (ERDC) Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory (CHL) are exploring potential opportunities by utilizing a collaboration between ERDC, NASA, U.S. Air Force, and other DOD agencies in the development of Global Hydro Intelligence (GHI).

Dwindling capacity at Tuttle Creek Reservoir calls for an urgent and innovative solution

By Carol C. Coleman, U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center — Fri, 20 Oct 2023 20:27:00 GMT

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is no stranger to sediment build-up issues. The organization is responsible for maintaining and managing thousands of miles of inland and intracoastal waterways, channels, ports and harbors with a dredging budget of more than $1.7 billion in fiscal year 2023 alone. Presently, USACE researchers are taking on a slightly different challenge and investigating new methods to diminish the accumulation of sediment in lakes and reservoirs caused by dams.