31 Mar 2025

USACE Relief Wells for Dams and Levees: History and Current Practice

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to review relief well practices within the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). A literature review was performed on the history and use of relief wells relief and the state of practice within the USACE. As part of this study, a survey about relief well use and maintenance practice was prepared and distributed to selected Districts containing a large number of relief wells to determine their standard operating procedures for using those wells and to learn the history of their use. Responses obtained from these Districts were tabulated and classified according to the subject categories requested. Research needs and tools were requested as part of the survey, and a large portion of the responses indicated that there is an important need for research into biofouling prevention and remediation. Finally, a laboratory experiment was performed on several commercial-off-the-shelf sensors to measure effluent flow remotely. The results of the experiment showed that remote sensing of relief well flow is viable. It was found that pore pressures could be used to measure the relief well flows over a wide range of flow rates and with an error of 10 percent or less on average. Ultrasonic sensors also performed well during testing, with an average error of 10 percent or less.

15 Sep 2023

ERDC: A Tradition of Innovation

Abstract: As the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) celebrates its 25th anniversary, “A Tradition of Innovation” traces the organization’s history from its precarious roots through its evolution into a world-class organization solving the toughest problems facing the nation and the Warfighter. This book highlights the key inflection points that shaped ERDC–from responding to national crises like 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina to changing climates, evolving military strategies and demands for greater computational power. As ERDC prepares to solve a myriad of new and escalating challenges, its engineers and scientists will build upon its tradition of innovation and lean into the cross-disciplinary culture forged during the organizations’ first quarter century.

10 May 2021

A Historical Perspective on Development of Systems Engineering Discipline: A Review and Analysis

Abstract: Since its inception, Systems Engineering (SE) has developed as a distinctive discipline, and there has been significant progress in this field in the past two decades. Compared to other engineering disciplines, SE is not affirmed by a set of underlying fundamental propositions, instead it has emerged as a set of best practices to deal with intricacies stemming from the stochastic nature of engineering complex systems and addressing their problems. Since the existing methodologies and paradigms (dominant patterns of thought and concepts) of SE are very diverse and somewhat fragmented. This appears to create some confusion regarding the design, deployment, operation, and application of SE. The purpose of this paper is (1) to delineate the development of SE from 1926-2017 based on insights derived from a histogram analysis, (2) to discuss the different paradigms and school of thoughts related to SE, (3) to derive a set of fundamental attributes of SE using advanced coding techniques and analysis, and (4) to present a newly developed instrument that could assess the performance of systems engineers. More than Two hundred and fifty different sources have been reviewed in this research in order to demonstrate the development trajectory of the SE discipline based on the frequency of publications.

30 Apr 2021

Nationwide Context and Evaluation Methodology for Farmstead and Ranch Historic Sites and Historic Archaeological Sites on DoD Property

Abstract: The Army is tasked with managing the cultural resources on its lands. For installations that contain large numbers of historic farm-steads, meeting these requirements through traditional archaeological approaches entails large investments of personnel, time and or-ganization capital. Through two previous projects, ERDC-CERL cultural resource management personnel developed a methodology for efficiently identifying the best examples of historic farmstead sites, and also those sites that are least likely to be deemed eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. This report details testing the applicability of the methodology to regions across the country. Regional historic contexts were created to assist in the determination of “typical” farmsteads. The Farmstead/Ranch Eligi-bility Evaluation Form created by ERDC-CERL researchers was revised to reflect the broader geographic scope and the inclusion of ranches as a property type. The form was then used to test 29 sites at five military installations. The results of the fieldwork show this approach is applicable nationwide, and it can be used to quickly identify basic information about historic farmstead sites that can expe-dite determinations of eligibility to the National Register.

26 Apr 2021

Camp Perry Historic District Landscape Inventory and Viewshed Analysis

Abstract: The National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (NHPA) established the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), which requires federal agencies to address their cultural resources, defined as any prehistoric or historic district, site, building, structure, or object. NHPA section 110 requires federal agencies to inventory and evaluate their cultural resources. Section 106 requires them to determine the effect of federal undertakings on properties deemed eligible or potentially eligible for the NRHP. Camp Perry Joint Training Center (Camp Perry) is located near Port Clinton, Ohio, and serves as an Ohio Army National Guard (OHARNG) training site. It served as an induction center during federal draft periods and as a prisoner of war camp during World War II. Previous work established boundaries for an historic district and recommended the district eligible for the NRHP. This project in-ventoried and evaluated Camp Perry’s historic cultural landscape and outlined approaches and recommendations for treatment by Camp Perry cultural resources management. Based on the landscape evaluation, recommendations of a historic district boundary change were made based on the small number of contributing resources to aid future Section 106 processes and/or development of a programmatic agreement in consultation with the Ohio State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO).

29 Jan 2021

Fort Huachuca History of Development: Existing Reports and Contexts

Abstract: The Fort Huachuca Environmental and Natural Resources Division (ENRD) tasked ERDC-CERL to compile a history of the development of Fort Huachuca for use in evaluating existing facilities and how they fit within the larger, overarching history of the fort. Fort Huachuca desires a comprehensive history of the fort for use in better understanding how its various facilities integrate into the overall history and development of the fort and its existing and proposed National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) properties and districts. This comprehensive history will help ENRD in making determinations on how to address future National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) nominations and/or recommendations for adding new historic districts or expanding the existing historic district. ERDC-CERL compiled content from 18 existing historic contexts, building inventory and cultural resources reports, NRHP nomination and registration forms, and Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) forms previously completed for the ENRD, and used these resources to compile the current history.

5 Nov 2020

Fort McCoy, Wisconsin Building 550 Maintenance Plan

Abstract: Building 550 (former World War II fire station) is located on Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, and was recommended eligible for the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 2018 (Smith and Adams 2018). The building is currently vacant. It is an intact example of an 800 Series World War II fire station with character-defining features of its period of significance from 1939 to 1946 on its exterior and interior. All buildings, especially historic ones, require regular planned maintenance and repair. The most notable cause of historic building element failure and/or decay is not the fact that the historic building is old, but rather it is caused by incorrect or inappropriate repair and/or basic neglect of the historic building fabric. This document is a maintenance manual compiled with as-is conditions of construction materials of Building 550. The Secretary of Interior Guidelines on rehabilitation and repair per material are discussed to provide the cultural resources manager at Fort McCoy a guide to maintain this historic building. This report satisfies Section 110 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) of 1966 as amended and will help the Fort McCoy Cultural Resources Management office to manage this historic building.