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  • USACE Galveston District and Harris County Flood Control District announce additional funds, schedule extension for BBTRS

    The Army Corps of Engineers Galveston District and the Harris County Flood Control District jointly announce the approval of additional funds and a schedule extension for the Buffalo Bayou and Tributaries Resiliency Study (BBTRS). The approval provides an additional $1.8 million in federal funds and extends the study for an additional 26 months, bringing the total federal funding to $7.8 million with a scheduled completion date of December 10, 2023.

  • Village of Crestline to Receive Financial Assistance from USACE for New Wastewater Treatment Plant

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Buffalo District, entered into an agreement in November 2021 with the Village of Crestline to provide $1,075,000 in partial funding assistance toward the Village’s design and construction costs for a new wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), pump station and force main. The Village’s current plan includes construction of a new separate treatment train at the existing treatment plant site, and replacement of the Park Road Pump Station and force main. The total project cost is estimated at over $14 million.

  • Evidence that Abrasion Can Govern Snow Kinetic Friction

    Abstract: The long-accepted theory to explain why snow is slippery postulates self-lubrication: frictional heat from sliding melts and thereby lubricates the contacting snow grains. We recently published micro-scale interface observations that contradicted this explanation: contacting snow grains abraded and did not melt under a polyethylene slider, despite low friction values. Here we provide additional observational and theoretical evidence that abrasion can govern snow kinetic friction. We obtained coordinated infrared, visible-light and scanning-electron micrographs that confirm that the evolving shapes observed during our tribometer tests are contacting snow grains polished by abrasion, and that the wear particles can sinter together and fill the adjacent pore spaces. Furthermore, dry-contact abrasive wear reasonably predicts the evolution of snow-slider contact area and sliding-heat-source theory confirms that contact temperatures would not reach 0°C during our tribometer tests. Importantly, published measurements of interface temperatures also indicate that melting did not occur during field tests on sleds and skis. Although prevailing theory anticipates a transition from dry to lubricated contact along a slider, we suggest that dry-contact abrasion and heat flow can prevent this transition from occurring for snow-friction scenarios of practical interest.

  • Revisiting Mechanics of Ice–Skate Friction: From Experiments at a Skating Rink to a Unified Hypothesis

    Abstract: The mechanics underlying ice–skate friction remain uncertain despite over a century of study. In the 1930s, the theory of self-lubrication from frictional heat supplanted an earlier hypothesis that pressure melting governed skate friction. More recently, researchers have suggested that a layer of abraded wear particles or the presence of quasi-liquid molecular layers on the surface of ice could account for its slipperiness. Here, we assess the dominant hypotheses proposed to govern ice– skate friction and describe experiments conducted in an indoor skating rink aimed to provide observations to test these hypotheses. Our results indicate that the brittle failure of ice under rapid compression plays a strong role. Our observations did not confirm the presence of full contact water films and are more consistent with the presence of lubricating ice-rich slurries at discontinuous high-pressure zones (HPZs). The presence of ice-rich slurries supporting skates through HPZs merges pressure-melting, abrasion and lubricating films as a unified hypothesis for why skates are so slippery across broad ranges of speeds, temperatures and normal loads. We suggest tribometer experiments to overcome the difficulties of investigating these processes during actual skating trials.

  • USACE joins DTRA for groundbreaking ceremony on new administrative building

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Albuquerque District joined the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) and Hensel Phelps Construction for a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the beginning of construction on a much-needed administrative building, Dec. 9, 2021.

  • Fielding event marks end of radar construction by Army engineers in Alaska

    At a military installation tucked along a remote stretch of two-lane highway in Interior Alaska, officials recently celebrated the achievement of a major milestone with a fielding event for a newly constructed long range-discrimination radar on Dec. 6.

  • Roadway across Saylorville Lake Dam closed due to high winds

    Due to high winds, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Rock Island District, has closed the roadway that crosses over the Saylorville Lake dam. Boat ramps and other winter recreation areas have also closed due to forecasted weather conditions. Areas will reopen when conditions are deemed safe. For more information, contact the Saylorville Lake Project Office at 515-276-4656.

  • Willow Grove Marina celebrates 15 years as Clean Marina

    ALLONS, Tenn. (Dec. 15, 2021) – The first Clean Marina flag to fly over any marina in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District and Cumberland River Basin was at Willow Grove Marina located on Dale Hollow Lake in Clay County, Tennessee.  Fifteen years later, with long-term family and staff carrying on the effort, Willow Grove Marina completed its recertification as a Clean Marina for a third cycle.

  • NR 21-037: Willow Grove Marina celebrates 15 years as Clean Marina

    ALLONS, Tenn. (Dec. 15, 2021) – The first Clean Marina flag to fly over any marina in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District and Cumberland River Basin was at Willow Grove Marina located on Dale Hollow Lake in Clay County, Tennessee. Fifteen years later, with long-term family and staff carrying on the effort, Willow Grove Marina completed its recertification as a Clean Marina for a third cycle.

  • Village of Lodi to Receive Financial Assistance from USACE for Water System Improvements

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Buffalo District, entered into an agreement in November 2021 with the Village of Lodi to provide $1,075,000 in partial funding assistance toward the Village’s design and construction costs for water system improvements. A survey of the Bank Street water tower (constructed in the 1930s) showed extensive corrosion on the riser of the tower, and the tank’s components were given a poor rating. The Village proposes to construct a new 200,000-gallon water storage tank on Evergreen Street and to replace the water main, services, valves and hydrants on Janice, Redfield, and Baker Street from the new tank to State Route 83. The preliminary cost estimate for design and construction is $2,637,950.