4 May 2021

Investigating the USACE Operational Condition Assessment Process Current and Future

Abstract: The US Army Corps of Engineers operates, maintains, and manages more than $232 billion worth of the Nation’s water resource infrastructure and relies on the Operational Condition Assessment (OCA) process to determine the condition of the assets and their components. The sheer number of components, all of equal OCA scheduling priority, creates challenges in ensuring that assessments are conducted in a timely manner and that data generated are of sufficient quality to inform resource allocation decisions. This research applied methods from systems design to determine the OCA system “as-is” state and create a stakeholder-informed vision of a “to-be” state that addresses current system challenges. To meet its objective of providing current assessments of asset condition, the OCA system must provide four high-level functions: provide access to asset data, conduct assessments, determine asset risk, and prioritize and schedule assessments. The development of capabilities to provide these functions will facilitate the achievement of the OCA system to-be vision: a consistent view of asset condition and risk across the enterprise.

30 Apr 2021

Demonstration of Autonomous Aerial Acoustic Recording Systems to Inventory Department of Defense Bird Populations

Abstract: This demonstration project addressed the Department of Defense need for innovative technology for monitoring avian populations in inaccessible areas. This report presents results from field validation tests for an autonomous aerial acoustic recording system, a helium-filled weather balloon that transported an instrument payload over inaccessible areas (e.g., ordnance impact areas) to record avian vocalizations.

30 Apr 2021

Load and Resistance Factors for Earth Retaining, Reinforced Concrete Hydraulic Structures Based on a Reliability Index (β) Derived from the Probability of Unsatisfactory Performance (PUP): Phase 2 Study

Abstract: This technical report documents the second of a two-phase research and development (R&D) study in support of the development of a combined Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) methodology that accommodates geotechnical as well as structural design limit states for design of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) reinforced concrete, hydraulic navigation structures. To this end, this R&D effort extends reliability procedures that have been developed for other non-USACE structural systems to encompass USACE hydraulic structures. Many of these reinforced concrete, hydraulic structures are founded on and/or retain earth or are buttressed by an earthen feature. Consequently, the design of many of these hydraulic structures involves significant soil structure interaction. Development of the required reliability and corresponding LRFD procedures has been lagging in the geotechnical topic area as compared to those for structural limit state considerations and have therefore been the focus of this second-phase R&D effort. Design of an example T-Wall hydraulic structure involves consideration of five geotechnical and structural limit states. New numerical procedures have been developed for precise multiple limit state reliability calculations and for complete LRFD analysis of this example T-Wall reinforced concrete, hydraulic structure.

30 Apr 2021

Sustainment Management System, Water Control Structures: Inventory and Inspection Template

Abstract: Department of Defense (DoD) military services own and maintain a portfolio of dams, dikes, and levees including over 800 assets with a total replacement value of over $2 Billion. The Inspector General has previously found that the DoD requires an inspection policy for dams, to prevent failures. The Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) directed the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Construction Engineering Laboratory (ERDC-CERL), to create an inspection method and integrate that method with the Enterprise Sustainment Management System, with aims to provide OSD a consistent description of all DoD real property and facilitate calculation of the Facility Condition Index (FCI) for each asset. This report builds upon ERDC-CERL TR-18-9 to propose a method for both inventory and inspection rating for DoD dams, levees, and dikes. A new real property classification system for DoD water control structures is proposed. To better fulfil the OSD requirement for consistent condition and FCI reporting, it is proposed that DoD reevaluate the replacement values and sustainment cost factors for its water retaining structures. A draft guide for linear segmentation for levees is proposed. Future work will allow CERL to develop an Initial Operating Capability for a module within the Enterprise Sustainment Management System to support the OSD requirement.

30 Apr 2021

Empirical analysis of effects of dike systems on channel morphology of the Lower Mississippi River

NOTE: There was an title error in MRG&P Report No. 36, which was published 3/2/2021 . A new PDF has been attached to the record with the correct title. This email has the correct title as well. No other changes were made.

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).

26 Apr 2021

AIS Data Case Study: Selecting Design Vessels for New Jersey Back Bays Storm Surge Barriers Study

Abstract: The purpose of this Coastal and Hydraulics Engineering technical note (CHETN) is to describe how historic Automatic Identification System (AIS) vessel position data were used to identify a design vessel for use in a storm surge barrier design study. Specifically, this CHETN describes how the AIS data were accessed, how the universe of vessel data was refined to allow for design vessel selection, and how that selection was used in a storm surge barrier (SSB) study. This CHETN draws upon the New Jersey Back Bays Coastal Storm Risk Management Feasibility Study (USACE-NAP 2019), specifically the Appendix B.2 Engineering Appendix Civil document1. The New Jersey Back Bays Study itself builds upon the work of the North Atlantic Coast Comprehensive Study (NACCS) initiated after Hurricane Sandy in 2012 (USACE 2015a).

26 Apr 2021

Automated Construction of Expeditionary Structures (ACES): Materials and Testing

Abstract: Complex military operations often result in U.S. forces remaining at deployed locations for long periods. In such cases, more sustainable facilities are required to better accommodate and protect forward-deployed forces. Current efforts to develop safer, more sustainable operating facilities for contingency bases involve construction activities that require a redesign of the types and characteristics of the structures constructed, that reduce the resources required to build, and that decrease the resources needed to operate and maintain the completed facilities. The Automated Construction of Expeditionary Structures (ACES) project was undertaken to develop the capability to “print” custom-designed expeditionary structures on demand, in the field, using locally available materials with the minimum number of personnel. This work investigated large-scale automated “additive construction” (i.e., 3D printing with concrete) for construction applications. This report, which documents ACES materials and testing, is one of four technical reports, each of which details a major area of the ACES research project, its research processes, and its associated results. There major areas include System Requirements, Construction, and Performance; Energy and Modeling; Materials and Testing; Architectural and Structural Analysis.

26 Apr 2021

altWIZ: A System for Satellite Radar Altimeter Evaluation of Modeled Wave Heights

Purpose: This Coastal and Hydraulics Engineering Technical Note (CHETN) describes the design and implementation of a wave model evaluation system, altWIZ, which uses wave height observations from operational satellite radar altimeters. The altWIZ system utilizes two recently released altimeter databases: Ribal and Young (2019) and European Space Agency Sea State Climate Change Initiative v.1.1 level 2 (Dodet et al. 2020). The system facilitates model evaluation against 1 Hz1 altimeter data or a product created by averaging altimeter data in space and time around model grid points. The system allows, for the first time, quantitative analysis of spatial model errors within the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Wave Information Study (WIS) 30+ year hindcast for coastal United States. The system is demonstrated on the WIS 2017 Atlantic hindcast, using a 1/2° basin scale grid and a 1/4° regional grid of the East Coast. Consistent spatial patterns of increased bias and root-mean-square-error are exposed. Seasonal strengthening and weakening of these spatial patterns are found, related to the seasonal variation of wave energy. Some model errors correspond to areas known for high currents, and thus wave-current interaction. In conjunction with the model comparison, additional functions for pairing altimeter measurements with buoy data and storm tracks have been built. Appendices give information on the code access (Appendix I), organization and files (Appendix II), example usage (Appendix III), and demonstrating options (Appendix IV).