11 Jul 2024

Composite Material Applications and Research Roadmap for US Army Corps of Engineers Civil Works

Abstract: This report discusses and ranks the remaining research, development, and deployment opportunities for fiber-reinforced polymer composite materials in USACE marine infrastructure applications. Following the successes of at least 10 fiber-reinforced polymer composite pilot projects from 2015 to 2022, Public Law 117-58, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, allocated funding for a roadmap report that articulates lingering implementation barriers and prioritizes steps to overcome those challenges through laboratory and field experimentation. The objective analysis herein draws from real Operational Condition Assessment data generated in the field. Key opportunities lie in inspection techniques, standardized design approaches for molded components, and improved guidance to ad-dress abrasion, fatigue, and concentrated load cases at the 10-meter scale.

25 Jun 2020

PUBLICATION NOTICE: Applications of value modeling to USACE Civil Works and beyond

Abstract: The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Civil Works (CW) portfolio includes $250 billion worth of capital assets. As infrastructure ages and budgets change, new asset management (AM) investment strategies are required to support the maintenance, repair, and replacement (MR&R) of these assets while also providing the greatest value to the USACE and to the Nation. Shrinking budgets and increased scrutiny of government expenditures drive efforts to determine how best to optimize government funds for infrastructure improvement. As a result, USACE-CW AM seeks to create a value model capable of calculating the benefit of MR&R project alternatives regardless of business line. Furthermore, USACE-CW seeks to explore whether such a value model could be used for the generation of defensible budgets that consistently bring high value to the USACE and to the Nation. Thus, this special report reviews past USACE CW efforts to develop a value model for decision analytics. This report also provides an introduction to value modeling while covering applications of value modeling in multiple areas, including AM and portfolio decision analytics.