Maintaining the nation’s waterways requires removal of millions of cubic yards of sediment to keep navigation channels safe and reliable. A team at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) is advancing a different way of thinking about material: rather than treating dredged sediment solely as something to manage, how it can it be used as an engineering resource to strengthen coastal systems?
ERDC’s Environmental Laboratory, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Mobile District and regional partners are evaluating whether dredged sediment can be transformed into 3D-printed structures that provide oyster habitat, improve shoreline resilience and expand beneficial use opportunities.