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ERDC Library Catalog

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Category: Dredging
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  • Barriers to Innovation in USACE

    Abstract: The Dredging Operations and Environmental Research Program (DOER) of the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) develops new tools and practices to support the efficiency, effectiveness, and sustainability of navigation dredging operations and then implements these new approaches (that is, innovations).We analyzed the innovation process to increase the adoption and implementation of new approaches and techniques. We then created a literature review of innovation diffusion theories and developed a mental model that identifies the actual and perceived barriers to innovation diffusion in USACE through a case study of its Navigation Program. We built the final expert mental model using interviews with 25 subject matter experts familiar with the program’s processes and external stakeholders. Interviewees reported environmental and budgetary constraints, time restrictions, and politics as the most common barriers to dredging innovation, including those based on the perceptions and beliefs of stakeholders rather than hard engineering or policy constraints (herein cognitive barriers). We suggest overcoming these barriers through changes in communication channels and social systems, such as public outreach through social media channels; interpersonal face-to-face meetings with decision makers; internal collaboration between local USACE districts and external collaboration with outside stakeholders, such as contractors and environmental regulators.
  • South Atlantic Division (SAD) Regional Sediment Management Optimization Pilot

    Purpose: The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) South Atlantic Division (SAD) Regional Sediment Management Optimization Pilot (RSM-OP) Tool was developed and implemented under a pilot effort to help define sustainable solutions across USACE missions and to support regional implementation strategies across project business lines. The goals of the RSM-OP are to (1) develop and provide an actionable and optimized Regional Sediment Management (RSM) strategy on a USACE division scale that will most efficiently execute the Navigation (NAV) and Flood Risk Management (FRM) Business Line budgets and (2) maximize the amount of dredging while also increasing the amount of RSM opportunities implemented to create value to the nation. Value created and funding saved as identified through the RSM-OP will allow the USACE to execute a greater number of projects under flatlined or reduced budgets. While RSM principles and strategies have been explored and implemented in many USACE districts, the RSM-OP is the first comprehensive approach to define and optimize RSM opportunities for coastal NAV and FRM projects and to quantify economic benefits across a USACE division.
  • PUBLICATION NOTICE: Insights: An Update of the USACE Data Strategy Initiative; November 2019 Edition

    Abstract: The Data25 strategy was advanced in FY19 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Chief Information Officer (USACE CIO) by funding pilots to show the power of data analytics on real USACE operations. This report details pilots that were conducted in three of USACEs Business Lines; Dredging, Hydropower, and Military Construction. The purposes for each of these pilots are listed below. 1. Enterprise value: Demonstrates the power of data analytics and its ability to generate business value by improving decision-making across the organization. 2. Technology value: Helps the CIO understand how cloud technology could support the overall data strategy. 3. Business value: Provides examples of data analytics in action. This view helps the Business Lines, Divisions, and Districts understand what it takes to supplement decision-making with insights generated from data. The main purpose of the pilots was to provide a glimpse of what could be gained from data analytics. From the initial business questions, the pilot Business Lines are seeking to use data to improve decisions through the automation of business processes, more rapid decision cycles, and the layering of previously siloed data on their own to reveal new insights.
  • PUBLICATION NOTICE: New York/New Jersey Harbor Sedimentation Study: Numerical Modeling of Hydrodynamics and Sediment Transport

    Abstract: The New York/New Jersey Harbor (NYNJH) is a vital economic resource for both the local economy and the entire US economy due to the vast quantity of imports and exports handled by the numerous ports in this waterway. As with most ports, there is a significant, recurring expense associated with dredging the navigation channels to the authorized depths. In an effort to determine the impact of channel enlargements (“the project”) on dredging volumes, a numerical model study was performed. The advantage of a numerical model study is the ability to isolate individual system modifications and associated impacts in terms of dredging volumes. Five years (1985, 1995, 1996, 2011, and 2012) were simulated for both the with- and without-project conditions to determine the impact of the channel deepening on the dredging requirements for a wide range of meteorological conditions including storm events. The numerical model results were analyzed to provide insight into which locations will experience increased/decreased deposition and quantify the amount of increase/decrease for a given channel reach. The model results indicate a relatively minor increase in the total dredge volumes for the NYNJH with the increase being insignificant in comparison to the natural variability in dredge volumes across years.
  • PUBLICATION NOTICE: Fine-Grained Sediment within Olcott Harbor, Eighteenmile Creek, NY

    Abstract: Olcott Harbor, located at the mouth of Eighteenmile Creek and Lake Ontario, and a Great Lake Area of Concern, provides a temporary sink for contaminated, fine-grained sediment transported downstream from the Superfund site near Lockport, NY. The volume of fine-grained sediment currently stored in Olcott Harbor and Eighteenmile Creek is unknown, complicating remediation efforts. The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Buffalo District (LRB), has partnered with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to address the mitigation of contaminated sediment accumulating within Eighteenmile Creek. As part of this effort, researchers from the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) collaborated with LRB to delineate fine-grained sediment regions from coarse-grained regions in Olcott Harbor and Eighteenmile Creek via a geophysical survey in July 2017. Where possible, ERDC also estimated the thickness of the fine-grained sediment areas to determine overall fine-sediment volume. Sidescan sonar was used to map the surface transition from the coarser-grained sediment in the outer harbor to the finer-grained sediment in the inner harbor. Chirp sub-bottom profiles successfully imaged the subsurface transition from coarse- to fine-grained sediment in some areas but provided only limited thickness data. This technical note summarizes the field effort, data processing, and final interpretations.
  • PUBLICATION NOTICE: Utilizing Stream Flows to Forecast Dredging Requirements

    Abstract: In recent years, the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has spent an average of approximately a billion dollars annually for navigation channel maintenance dredging. To execute these funds effectively, USACE districts must determine which navigation channels are most in need of maintenance dredging each year. Traditionally, dredging volume estimates for Operations and Maintenance budget development are based on experiential knowledge and historic averages, with the effects of upstream, precipitation-driven streamflows considered via general-rule approximations. This study uses the Streamflow Prediction Tool, a hydrologic routing model driven by global weather forecast ensembles, and dredging records from the USACE Galveston District to explore relationships between precipitation-driven inland channel flow and subsequent dredged volumes in the downstream coastal channel reaches. Spatially based regression relationships are established between cumulative inland flows and dredged volumes. Results in the test cases of the Houston Ship Channel and the Sabine-Neches Waterway in Texas indicate useful correlations between the computed streamflow volumes and recorded dredged volumes. These relationships are stronger for channel reaches farther inland, upstream of the coastal processes that are not included in the precipitation-driven hydrologic model.
  • PUBLICATION NOTICE: Sediment Sorting by Hopper Dredging and Pump-Out Operations: Sampling Methods and Analysis

    Abstract: Hopper dredging operations for beach and nearshore placement typically include periods of overflow, which produces some degree of separation between the size fractions of the dredged sediment. The degree of separation and the controlling factors are presently poorly known. This report focuses on laboratory experiments aimed at determining (1) suitable sampling methods on a dredge, (2) composite sampling techniques to reduce analysis cost, (3) associated sampling intervals to achieve suitable sediment representation of a hopper load, and (4) a hydraulic means of sample splitting. Results showed that no statistical difference exists among the three methods used to sample the hopper weir overflow. The method used to sample deposited hopper sediment identified a bias in the percent fines that resulted from flow sheltering. Further, it was found that composited samples were able to quantify the concentration and percent fines accurately, although an analytical data experiment showed that the accuracy of a composited sample is dependent on the sampling intervals. The accuracy of the fines and concentration from a hydraulic sample splitter was found to be dependent on median grain size, with fine sediment being evenly distributed and coarser sediment increasing the error in concentration and grain size distribution.