scholarly journals FRF WAVE TEST BED AND BATHYMETRY INVERSION

Author(s):  
Jane McKee Smith ◽  
Spicer Bak ◽  
Tyler Hesser ◽  
Mary A. Bryant ◽  
Chris Massey

An automated Coastal Model Test Bed has been built for the US Army Corps of Engineers Field Research Facility to evaluate coastal numerical models. In October of 2015, the test bed was expanded during a multi-investigator experiment, called BathyDuck, to evaluate two bathymetry sources: traditional survey data and bathymetry generated through the cBathy inversion algorithm using Argus video measurements. Comparisons were made between simulations using the spectral wave model STWAVE with half-hourly cBathy bathymetry and the more temporally sparse surveyed bathymetry. The simulation results using cBathy bathymetry were relatively close to those using the surveyed bathymetry. The largest differences were at the shallowest gauges within 250 m of the coast, where wave model normalized root-mean-square was approximately twice are large using the cBathy bathymetry. The nearshore errors using the cBathy input were greatest during events with wave height greater than 2 m. For this limited application, the Argus cBathy algorithm proved to be a suitable bathymetry input for nearshore wave modeling. cBathy bathymetry was easily incorporated into the modeling test bed and had the advantage of being updated on approximately the same temporal scale as the other model input conditions. cBathy has great potential for modeling applications where traditional surveys are sparse (seasonal or yearly).

Author(s):  
Jane McKee Smith ◽  
Tyler Hesser ◽  
Mary Anderson Bryant ◽  
Aron Roland ◽  
Andrew Cox

The spectral wave generation and propagation model WAVEWATCH III (WW3) is undergoing rapid development to extend capability and applicability. An option for unstructured grids and implicit solution provides WW3 with the flexibility and efficiency to resolve complex shorelines and high-gradient wave zones to drive nearshore circulation, wave setup, and wave-driven sediment transport with multi-scale spatial coverage over approximately three orders of magnitude. The model is compatible with community-based coupling infrastructure to facilitate two-way coupling with circulation models for simulating hurricane storm surge and waves. Unstructured WW3 is applied for 2019 Hurricane Dorian and validated with National Data Buoy Center buoys and nearshore gauges at the US Army Corps of Engineers Field Research Facility.Recorded Presentation from the vICCE (YouTube Link): https://youtu.be/kz9G46xUD0k


2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (33) ◽  
pp. 109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy W Kana ◽  
Haiqing Liu Kaczkowski

A 3.5 million cubic meter beach nourishment project was completed along 16 kilometers of shoreline at Nags Head, North Carolina, 32 kilometers south of the US Army Corps of Engineers Field Research Facility at Duck. The project is the largest locally-funded nourishment accomplished to date in the United States. Three ocean-certified hopper dredges and one cutterhead suction dredge constructed the project between May and October 2011. This paper discusses the planning, design, and initial performance of the project. Nags Head is exposed to high waves from the northeast which generate net southerly transport over the long term. A key design issue for the project was the large gradient in erosion rates from north to south. Fill sections were varied accordingly based on documented volume erosion rates and model simulations for the area. Permitting involved over five years of environ¬mental reviews because of the need to work during fair-weather summer months in the relatively high-energy setting. The design also built on prior work in connection with a federal nourishment project scheduled for the area if and when funds become available. Two offshore areas strategically located close to south Nags Head were utilized for construction which proceeded efficiently under summer waves until late August when Hurricane Irene impacted the area. The hurricane and fall northeast storms produced rapid adjustment of the construction profile but no net loss of sand from the project area. Post-project surveys show initial profile equilibration was largely confined to the inshore zone inside the 3.7 meter (m) [−12 foot (ft) NAVD] contour. Depth of closure at decadal scales is estimated to be −7.3 m (−24 ft NAVD).


2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (33) ◽  
pp. 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane McKee Smith ◽  
Andrew B. Kennedy ◽  
Joannes J. Westerink ◽  
Alexandros A. Taflanidis ◽  
Kwok Fai Cheung

The US Army Corps of Engineers’ Surge and Wave Island Modeling Studies developed a fast forecasting system for hurricane waves and inundation in Hawaii. The system is based on coupled high-resolution, high-fidelity simulations of waves and surge applying the SWAN and ADCIRC numerical models on a 2D finite-element grid. Additionally, wave runup is simulated on high-resolution cross-shore transects using the Boussinesq-equation model BOUSS-1D. Approximately 1500 storms were simulated to cover the range of hurricane parameters of landfall location, track angle at landfall, central pressure, forward speed, and radius of maximum winds expected to impact Hawaii. To create a forecast system that is fast and robust, a moving least-squares response surface surrogate model was developed based on the high-fidelity model results. The surrogate model is approximately seven orders of magnitude faster than the high-fidelity simulations. The efficiency of the surrogate model allows both deterministic and probabilistic simulations in seconds to minutes on a personal computer.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Abdolali ◽  
Andre van der Westhuysen ◽  
Zaizhong Ma ◽  
Avichal Mehra ◽  
Aron Roland ◽  
...  

AbstractVarious uncertainties exist in a hindcast due to the inabilities of numerical models to resolve all the complicated atmosphere-sea interactions, and the lack of certain ground truth observations. Here, a comprehensive analysis of an atmospheric model performance in hindcast mode (Hurricane Weather and Research Forecasting model—HWRF) and its 40 ensembles during severe events is conducted, evaluating the model accuracy and uncertainty for hurricane track parameters, and wind speed collected along satellite altimeter tracks and at stationary source point observations. Subsequently, the downstream spectral wave model WAVEWATCH III is forced by two sets of wind field data, each includes 40 members. The first ones are randomly extracted from original HWRF simulations and the second ones are based on spread of best track parameters. The atmospheric model spread and wave model error along satellite altimeters tracks and at stationary source point observations are estimated. The study on Hurricane Irma reveals that wind and wave observations during this extreme event are within ensemble spreads. While both Models have wide spreads over areas with landmass, maximum uncertainty in the atmospheric model is at hurricane eye in contrast to the wave model.


1964 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 215-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
W G Brown

Calculations using the Neumann solution (as modified by Aldrich) and thermal properties of soils (obtained by Kersten) show that the frost penetration depth for the same freezing index for essentially all soils with any moisture content and for dry sand and rock varies by a factor of about 2 to 1. The extremes calculated in this way bracket the experimentally determined design curve of the US Army Corps of Engineers and give it theoretical support. The theoretical calculations and additional experimental data are used as a basis for a small alteration in the slope of the design curve. This modified design curve is recommended for field use because of (1) inherent imperfections in existing theory and (2) practical limitations to precise specification of field conditions.


Author(s):  
Mark Walczynski

This concluding chapter demonstrates that under state management, Starved Rock State Park grew in popularity. The park provided specialists from the US Army Corps of Engineers with a training area to master the military art of pontoon bridge assembly in preparation for the Allied invasion of Germany in World War II. Equally important, the park was where locals came to work and to relax in the 1950s and 1960s, and it is where today over two million people come to hike, camp, picnic, fish, hunt, and enjoy nature every year. However, the very geologic composition of Starved Rock and its environs has created a new challenge for the twenty-first century. Sand companies now mine silica sand near the park. The challenge is one of balance between protection of the park's fragile natural resources versus the competing interests of local governments and residents desiring new employment opportunities. In addition, the Starved Rock Dam, completed in 1933, raised the level of the Illinois River above the dam about ten feet. Nevertheless, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources employees at Starved Rock State Park are dedicated to preserving and maintaining the park and to serving park visitors.


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