28 Apr 2020

PUBLICATION NOTICE: Alabama Barrier Island Restoration Assessment Life-Cycle Structure Response Modeling

Abstract: Dauphin Island, a barrier island off the coast of Alabama, plays an important role in the protection of the state’s coastal natural resources. In 2011, the State of Alabama constructed a rubble mound berm across a 2 km breach in the western end of the barrier island to prevent oil from the Deep Water Horizon oil spill from migrating into the Mississippi Sound. The breach, referred to as the Katrina Cut, was caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The US Army Corps of Engineers and the US Geological Survey (USGS) performed the Alabama Barrier Island Restoration Assessment study to assess the current and future function of Dauphin Island and evaluate potential restoration measures. A Monte Carlo life-cycle structure response assessment of the Katrina Cut rubble mound structure was performed as part of this study by the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory. Damage, wave transmission, and reliability were computed within the context of the decadal barrier evolution analysis performed by the USGS for various storminess and relative sea level change scenarios. The presence of a beach in front of the structure plays an important role in its protection. The breaching potential for measures was evaluated.