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  • USACE Buffalo District Embraces Building Information Modeling to Modernize Facilities Across Their Life Cycle

    BUFFALO, N.Y. — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Buffalo District has implemented Building Information Modeling across its design and construction projects, marking a significant shift in how infrastructure is delivered and maintained throughout its operational life. BIM is a process that integrates 3D modeling with digital data management to improve the efficiency, accuracy and sustainability of construction projects. Originally emerging in the architecture and construction industries in the early 1990s, BIM was developed to consolidate all graphical and non-graphical aspects of a building into a single, intelligent model.

  • Setting the pace (and the bar) high; USACE Jacksonville District’s Canaveral Sand Bypass Project recognized as one of America’s Best Restored Beaches in 2025

    Recently recognized as one of America’s Best Restored Beaches in 2025, by the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association (ASBPA), the Canaveral Sand Bypass project (CSB) in Brevard County, was lauded for effective management of an entire coastal system that supports wildlife, national security, space operations, commerce, tourism, and recreation, while simultaneously demonstrating how multiple entities (public, private, military) can work together in providing innovative solutions to the complex problem set often plaguing delicate coastal ecosystems and their surrounding communities.

  • Fort Peck reminds campers of regulations

    The Natural Resource Office at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Fort Peck Project would like to remind visitors of the following regulations governing camping:

  • CERL archaeologists conduct geophysical survey to identify potential burial sites

    Archaeologists from the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s (ERDC) Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (CERL) are working on a project centered on surveying and identifying known and unknown burial sites. In June, CERL archaeologists recently conducted a non-invasive geophysical survey to identify potential locations for ancestors' burial in the upper Wabash Region in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Chicago District.

  • MKARNS Nav Notice No. 25-56 Lock 4 Tow Haulage Out of Service

    The tow haulage equipment at Emmett Sanders (No. 04) NM 66.0 is currently out of service due to ongoing work. 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.

  • Assessing Shorelines Extracted from Satellite Imagery Using Coincident Terrestrial Lidar Linescans

    Abstract: Previous analyses comparing CoastSat satellite-derived shorelines to morphological data highlighted site-specific errors in outputs related to concurrent wave runup conditions. We present a comparison of lidar-derived runup and beach elevation data to CoastSat satellite-derived waterlines extracted using two image sources and two threshold algorithms. Results show SDW extracted using Otsu thresholds correlated better with lidar-derived waterlines, SDW extracted using the weighted peaks threshold were consistently positioned in the upper swash and correlated better with a runup bulk statistic. Assigning the best-fit runup bulk statistic as the waterline elevation to weighted peaks SDW resulted in SDS with less scatter than the Otsu SDW. Horizontal errors for converted datum-referenced shoreline were lowest when SDW were converted to SDS using best-fit measured runup bulk statistics and a measured slope. For weighted peaks SDW from both image sources, assigning the best-fit parameterized runup bulk statistic and an average slope in the SDW to SDS conversion reduced error by ∼ 20% to ∼ 35% when compared to tidal elevation and average slope. These findings confirm runup corrections can improve native SDS outputs, although the magnitude of final shorelines error depended on specific imagery product, local beach slope, threshold technique, runup parametrization, and chosen reference contour.

  • Applying the Working with Nature Philosophy to Navigation Infrastructure Projects

    Abstract: In 2008, the World Association for Waterborne Transport Infrastructure published a position paper describing a Working with Nature philosophy aimed to change how the sector approaches navigation and port infrastructure projects. In 2018, Pianc published guidance on implementing WwN. Pianc’s guidance presents a six-step process that encourages consideration of site-specific ecosystem characteristics and WwN opportunities at early stages of project development, early stakeholder engagement and integration of WwN into the development of project objectives before design begins. By incorporating WwN applications during conception, the WwN approach provides the most promising opportunities to affect positive outcomes for the environment. This holistic understanding of ecosystem processes and socioeconomic interactions realises environmental impacts can be minimised while concomitantly seeking opportunities to enhance ecosystem functions at various spatial and temporal scales. Project delivery thus goes beyond avoiding or compensating for negative project impacts and seeks multi-sector ecosystem and socioeconomic benefits. Applied in practice, WwN can increase habitat functionality, reduce energy associated with construction or maintenance, and enhance the short- and long-term delivery of ecosystem services. Projects consistent with the WwN philosophy achieve their underlying engineering objectives, alongside various co-benefits, consistent with the environmental, societal and economic sustainability pillars.

  • Applicability of Two-Phase Modeling with Compression Experiments for Snow Compaction Dynamics

    Abstract: Compaction is a rheological process which has been modeled using a 1-D two-phase continuum framework. However, it has been posed as a promising method for modeling densification of snow into glacial ice, where the conventional model is empirical or semi-empirical. We explored the applicability of a one-dimensional two-phase continuum framework for modeling snow compaction through theoretical and laboratory methods by analyzing and simplifying theory, then experimentally constraining the model coefficient. We found the limit of slow compaction is reached such that air evacuation during the compaction process does not impede the deformation of ice grains. Model-data comparisons are performed using data from a series of uniaxial compression experiments of snow samples under a range of compaction rates and densities at –10° and –20 °C. By defining a linear effective pressure function, we constrain the model parameter by tuning against the data. While our model follows proper simplification of theory, temperature and microstructural dependence are determined by the model parameter in a rheological formulation with the strain rate; much scatter still exists. Within the selected range of compaction rates and densities, a 1-D two-phase model with a continuum framework alone does not likely capture important processes involved in the compaction process.

  • Heat wave spikes temps and hydropower demand

    With regional temperatures spiking during this week’s heat wave, the demand for electricity follows. As people turn on fans, air conditioners and other cooling devices, power providers rely on hydropower because dams can bring turbines on quickly, to add immediate supply and provide grid stability.

  • Army Corps awards contract for Lewes & Rehoboth Canal dredging

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Philadelphia District announced it awarded a $9.6 million contract to Cottrell Contracting Corporation of Chesapeake, Va. to conduct dredging of the Lewes & Rehoboth Canal in Sussex County, Delaware.