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  • Fort Randall trail dedication honors beloved employee

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District’s Fort Randall Project held a ribbon-cutting ceremony, Sept. 20, 2024, in Pickstown, South Dakota for a newly constructed trail system. The trail system, named the Lisa M. Durham Memorial Trail, honors Lisa Durham, a longtime Fort Randall employee who passed away in 2022 following her battle with cancer.

  • USACE Completes Residential Debris Removal in Lahaina, Commercial Properties 64% Cleared

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in partnership with federal, state, and local agencies, has

  • USACE and Dare County meet to discuss noncompliance of dredging permits

    On September 25th, Wilmington District conducted a meeting with members of Dare County leadership to determine a path forward to lift the suspensions. The intent of the meeting was to discuss and define responsibilities, establish a compliance protocol and develop a path forward to reauthorize the five suspended permits.

  • USACE Vicksburg District announces Youth Waterfowl Hunt at Arkabutla Lake

    VICKSBURG, Miss. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) at Arkabutla Lake and the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks will hold a youth waterfowl hunt on January 25, 2025, and February 8, 2025, in a management area near Arkabutla Lake Dam. The Youth Waterfowl Hunt will provide an opportunity for experienced waterfowl hunters to teach the younger generations of hunters the proper techniques and ethics of the sport.

  • USACE waives day use fees at recreation areas in observance of National Public Lands Day

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced that it will waive day use fees at recreation areas nationwide in observance of National Public Lands Day on Sept. 28, 2024.

  • MKARNS Nav Notice No. SWL 24-74 Lock 9 Tow Haulage Out of Service

    The tow haulage equipment at Ormond Lock (No. 9) NM 176.9 is currently out of service due to electrical issues. Double cut tows will have to be locked the conventional way (without the use of tow haulage). A follow up notice will be distributed when the tow haulage equipment is back in service.

  • Environmental Lab combats HABs with UV light and 3D-printed structures

    Researchers at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center's (ERDC) Environmental Laboratory are testing a new, ultraviolet light-based treatment technology to treat Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) without introducing chemicals that may have undesirable secondary effects.

  • Comparing the Thermal Infrared Signatures of Shallow Buried Objects and Disturbed Soil

    Abstract: The alteration of physical and thermal properties of native soil during object burial produces a signature that can be detected using thermal infrared (IR) imagery. This study explores the thermal signature of disturbed soil compared to buried objects of different compositions (e.g., metal and plastic) buried 5 cm below ground surface (bgs) to better understand the mechanisms by which soil disturbance can impact the performance of aided target detection and recognition (AiTD/R). IR imagery recorded every five minutes were coupled with meteorological data recorded on 15-minute intervals from 1 July to 31 October 2022 to compare the diurnal and long-term fluctuations in raw radiance within a 25 × 25 pixel area of interest (AOI) above each target. This study examined the diurnal pattern of the thermal signature under several varying environmental conditions. Results showed that surface effects from soil disturbance increased the raw radiance of the AOI, strengthening the contrast between the object and background soil for several weeks after object burial. Enhancement of the thermal signature may lead to expanded windows of object visibility. Target age was identified as an important element in the development of training data sets for machine learning (ML) classification algorithms.

  • Thermography Conversion for Optimal Noise Reduction

    Abstract: Computer vision applications in terms of raw thermal radiance are limited by byte size. Normalizing the raw imagery reduces functional complexities that could otherwise aide a computer processing algorithm. This work explores a method to normalize 16-bit signed integer (I16) into unsigned 8-bit (U8) while maintaining the integrity of the correlation coefficients between the raw data sets and the environmental parameters that affects thermal anomaly detectability.

  • Accelerated Concrete Flexural Strengths for Airfield Pavements

    Abstract: Mixture-proportioning studies and submittals are an integral part of the pavement design and planning process as outlined in the Unified Facilities Guide Specification 32 13 14.13 for Department of Defense airfield pavements. Many aspects of the required testing are time-consuming due to the duration of the test (e.g., alkali–silica reaction experiments) or to the required concrete age at testing (e.g., compressive or flexural strength testing). Time awaiting testing results often delays projects and adds cost. The objective was to develop an accelerated testing requirement for flexural strength (currently 650 psi or greater at 90 days), thereby reducing the time to pavement acceptance. Potential accelerated testing methodologies were evaluated in a literature review. A statistical analysis generated under a design of experiments protocol determined concrete flexural strength gain and correlation ratios. Results of the statistical analysis showed that a reduced flexural strength of 600 psi could be accepted at 14 days and still reach the minimum flexural strength requirement of 650 psi at 90 days with high certainty (i.e., greater than 95% certainty). Additionally, the results stemming from the design of experiments compared favorably with data gathered from four mixture-proportioning submittals acquired via the Transportation Systems Center.