1 Sep 2026

Sand Nourishments: Review of Research and Introduction of the SOURCE Project

Abstract: Sand nourishments have become a popular management option to mitigate coastal retreat for sites with abundant sand supplies. Off-site sand is placed on the dry beach or under water at typical water depths up to 10 m. This nearshore zone has a high bed level variability and contains a cascade of morphological features. This makes the understanding and forecasting of nourishment morphodynamics and impacts challenging. The emerging climate-change effects, sea-level rise in particular, call for significant progress on this topic in due time. This paper presents an overview of field, laboratory and modeling studies on nourishment morphodynamics. Four key knowledge gaps were identified. First, the spreading of nourished sand through the coastal zone is poorly understood, and has not been quantified. Second, it is unclear how design variables such as size, placement location and grain-size affect the nourishment lifetime, spreading and impact. Third, the cumulative effect of repeated nourishments on the coastal system is unknown. Fourth, models are not capable to reliably predict the morphological development and impact of nourishments. To tackle these knowledge gaps, we have launched the SOURCE research project.

9 Sep 2025

Bayesian Updating of Fatigue Crack Growth Parameters for Failure Prognosis of Miter Gates

Abstract: Navigable waterways play a vital role in efficient transportation of millions of tons of cargo annually. Inland traffic must pass through a lock, which consists of miter gates. Failures and closures of these gates can significantly disrupt waterborne commerce. Miter gates often experience fatigue cracking due to their loading and welded connections. Repairing every crack can lead to excessive miter gate downtime and serious economic impacts. If the rate of crack growth is shown to be sufficiently slow, immediate repairs may be deemed unnecessary, and this downtime can be avoided. Paris’ law is often obtained from laboratory testing with detailed crack measurements of specimens with relatively simple geometry. However, its parameters for an in situ structure will likely deviate from those predicted from physical testing due to variations in loading and materials and a more complicated geometry. To improve Paris’ law parameter prediction, we propose a framework that utilizes convenient vision-based tracking of crack evolution in the laboratory and the field and numerical model estimation of stress intensity factors. This study’s methodology provides an efficient tool for Paris’ law parameter prediction that can be updated as more data become available through vision-based monitoring and provide actionable information.

11 Dec 2024

Adaptive Hydraulics (AdH) Version 4.7.1 Sediment Transport User’s Manual: A 2D Modeling System Developed by the Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory

Abstract: Guidelines are presented for using the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Adaptive Hydraulics (AdH) modeling software to model 2D shallow water problems with sediment transport (i.e., AdH linked to the Sediment Transport Library [SEDLIB]). This manual describes the inputs necessary to use the SEDLIB sediment transport library from within AdH, to perform coupled hydrodynamic, sediment, and morphological computations. The SEDLIB sediment transport library is intended to be of general use and, as such, examples are given for basic sediment transport of cohesive, noncohesive, and mixed suspended sediment loads and bedload.