17 Oct 2025

Northeast Florida Regional Sediment Management: A Guide to Using Dredged Material for Estuarine Restoration

Abstract: Regional sediment management is a systems approach using best management practices for more efficient and effective use of sediments in coastal, estuarine, and inland environments. The primary RSM objective for this Northeast Florida study is to determine what opportunities exist to beneficially use dredged material for ecosystem restoration and habitat enhancement. A secondary objective is to ensure more efficient use of federal funds by coordinating dredging schedules for navigation projects with federal, state, and local authorities. This study met these objectives through collaboration with stakeholders on the technical, social, and cultural components required to combine resources to meet common goals. The Federal Standard for navigation projects in Northeast Florida is either upland disposal or disposal at the Jacksonville Ocean Dredged Material Disposal Site. This document describes five beneficial uses of dredged material: (1) thin-layer placement, (2) island creation and restoration, (3) dredged hole filling, (4) shoreline stabilization, and (5) upland beneficial use. Dredged material from navigation projects throughout Northeast Florida was considered, including Fernandina Harbor, Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base, Jacksonville Harbor, St. Augustine Inlet, Ponce De Leon Inlet, and the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. For each placement strategy, the document outlines the required sediments, volumes, construction methodologies, and estimated costs.

19 Aug 2025

Numerical Modeling of Coastal Processes with Beneficial Use of Dredged Sediment in the Nearshore at Jekyll Island, Georgia

Abstract: This report provides numerical model results to assist the US Army Corps of Engineers–Savannah District (SAS). These results evaluate beneficial use alternatives for the sediment from an advance maintenance widener of the Brunswick Harbor Entrance Channel between stations −14+000 and −28+000. This study applied a coastal wave, hydrodynamic and sediment transport model (Coastal Modeling System), and a shoreline change model (GenCade), focusing on developing and simulating placement alternatives. Subaerial placement model results indicate better shore and beach preservation than at the nearshore nourishment. Placing sediment closer to the “transition zone” between the revetment and natural beach will increase the volume of sand that remains in that area. Some sediment is predicted to return to the channel, but these volumes are small fractions of the placed material. GenCade results indicate that the transition zone rock debris decreases shoreline erosion. Removing it has less impact on that area than any of the subaerial nourishments, but this prediction does not include profile equilibration that may occur after the first 4 months. Overall, model results indicate that subaerial placement will have strong positive response at the eroding beach, and related increases to channel infilling rates are relatively small.

30 Apr 2025

Corps Shoaling Analysis Tool (CSAT) User Guide

Abstract: The Corps Shoaling Analysis Tool (CSAT) is a suite of computational routines for evaluating shoaling rates in navigation channels maintained by the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). This is achieved using survey data from the eHydro enterprise hydrographic survey database. At the local scale, CSAT’s outputs are useful for understanding historical shoaling trends and identifying shoaling hotspots, while enterprise-level shoaling forecasts support Operations and Maintenance (O&M) planning over a 5-year time horizon. This user guide provides practical, step-by-step instructions for new CSAT users who wish to download, install, and run the tool. Later sections provide insight into CSAT’s advanced features while also describing the methods and assumptions that underlie the calculations.

7 Apr 2025

Review of Mississippi River Sediment-Sampling Protocols

Abstract: The Mississippi River sediment data protocols located in the US Army Corps of Engineer (USACE), St Louis, Memphis, Vicksburg, and New Orleans Districts, were reviewed and evaluated. The review included both USACE and US Geological Survey (USGS) sampling sites. The purpose of this review was to evaluate the reported historical sediment data and to provide guidance for moving forward with an accurate and consistent sediment data collection program. The review was focused on the reliability of the reported historical data and its usefulness for use in sedimentation studies related to long-term aggradation, degradation, and dredging. Recommendations to implement effective sediment data collection, laboratory analyses, and reporting were provided.

19 Feb 2025

Lower James River Sediment Transport Modeling: Jordan Point

Abstract: US Army Corps of Engineers–Norfolk District (NAO) requested assistance from the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) to examine currently used placement sites within the James River, Virginia, initiative area, determine potential risk to critical environmental receptors during placement, and predict the life cycle of the placement sites. The focus of the analysis within this work is the Jordan Point placement site. The far-field, fate-transport modeling at Jordan Point shows relatively low maximum values of suspended sediment concentration (less than 40 mg/L) and deposition values (less than 0.2 cm). Material that is placed at Jordan Point appears to quickly disperse through the system, depositing in thin layers at specific areas. The life-cycle analysis performed for the Jordon Point placement site yielded an estimated useable project life of the Jordan Point placement sites of 26 years with an uncertainty of ±4 years. Analysis showed that 97% of the net sediment deposition in the navigation channel in proximity to this site is from the upper James River, 2% is from downstream sources, and 1% is from the two Jordan Point placement sites.

14 Feb 2025

Validating Sediment Budgets Along the North Atlantic Coast Using the Updated Sediment Budget Calculator

Purpose: This Regional Sediment Management (RSM) technical note (TN) outlines two case studies validating the Sediment Budget Calculator (SBC) using accepted values from the literature and published sediment budgets. Initially developed by the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) as a web-based tool, the SBC calculates all viable sediment transport rates for an inlet environment given user-defined inputs. The next-generation SBC was converted into Python 3.9 to make it more accessible than the original C++ version. These case studies outline the efficacy of the SBC tool for deriving accurate and reliable sediment budget values. Finally, the TN discusses future SBC improvements and efforts to incorporate SBC results into the Sediment Budget Analysis System (SBAS).

7 Jan 2025

Geomorphic Assessment of the St. Francis River Phase II

Abstract: Significant sedimentation issues persist within the St. Francis Basin as a result of extensive drainage alterations. The objective of this study is to characterize the bed and bank sediment throughout the study reach and identify potential sources of sediment contributing to the sanding issues below Holly Island. The sedimentation below Holly Island increases the Memphis District’s maintenance needs in the St. Francis River Basin by requiring millions of dollars for channel cleanout and bank stabilization projects. This effort synthesizes prior geomorphic studies and existing survey data to break the study reach into seven geomorphic reaches of interest. Simultaneously, 151 bed samples and 137 bank samples were collected to characterize the sediments within the study reach to develop a data dictionary for future sediment budget development. Results show the St. Francis River is a poorly sorted, sand-bed river overlain by 10 to 20 feet of silts and clays along the banks. Iron Bridge to Highway U (Reach 1-3) may reach pseudo-stability so long as existing grade-control structures and bank stabilization features remain. Reach 6, between St. Francis and Brown’s Ferry, is evolving with one cutoff forming and one cutoff recently complete. This reach may be a source of sediment to downstream reaches.

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.

11 Jul 2024

Mississippi River AdH Model Modification and Evaluation, Thebes, Illinois, to Birds Point, Missouri, Reach

Abstract: A calibrated hydrodynamic and sediment transport model of the Upper Mississippi River, from Thebes, Illinois, to Birds Point, Missouri, was created to investigate hydraulics and sediment transport in the river channel and across the Dogtooth Island Peninsula (DIP) as the result of the Len Small levee breach. A hydrodynamic model was developed for the reach and calibrated to stage and breach outflow discharge data for the floods of 2011, 2015–2016, and 2017. The hydrodynamic model was used to investigate breach outflow discharges and shear stress distribution over the DIP. Soil and geologic maps were investigated to determine soil parameters and the long-term stability of soil formations on the DIP. The Upper Mississippi River sediment transport model was built upon the hydrodynamic model and soil mapping efforts. The sediment transport model was calibrated to the 2015 and 2017 flood events. Calibration data were limited to changes in elevation, which were then areally averaged, computed from comprehensive channel surveys and lidar data for the DIP. This model provides a solid foundation for comparing alternative measures to minimize further erosion of the DIP and for analyzing the risk of a channel cutoff occurring.

8 Apr 2024

Coastal Modeling System User’s Manual

Abstract: The Coastal Modeling System (CMS) is a suite of coupled 2D numerical models for simulating nearshore waves, currents, water levels, sediment transport, morphology change, and salinity and temperature. Developed by the Coastal Inlets Research Program of the US Army Corps of Engineers, the CMS provides coastal engineers and scientists a PC-based, easy-to-use, accurate, and efficient tool for understanding of coastal processes and for designing and managing of coastal inlets research, navigation projects, and sediment exchange between inlets and adjacent beaches. The present technical report acts as a user guide for the CMS, which contains comprehensive information on model theory, model setup, and model features. The detailed descriptions include creation of a new project, configuration of model grid, various types of boundary conditions, representation of coastal structures, numerical methods, and coupled simulations of waves, hydrodynamics, and sediment transport. Pre- and postmodel data processing and CMS modeling procedures are also described through operation within a graphic user interface—the Surface Water Modeling System.