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  • Naval Expeditionary Runway Reconstruction Criteria: Evaluation of Full-Depth Reclamation for P-8 Aircraft Operations

    Abstract: A structurally failed asphalt pavement section was reconstructed to investigate the full-depth reclamation (FDR) technique. The full-scale FDR pavement section consisted of six different test items containing different FDR material blends, a minimum asphalt layer thickness (i.e., 2 in. and 3 in.), and FDR-surface pavements (i.e., asphalt-surfaced and unpaved pavements). The FDR layers were stabilized with a combination of an asphalt emulsion and Portland cement. A heavy vehicle simulator was employed to simulate the loading conditions of the P-8 Poseidon aircraft. The performance of the full-scale pavement section before and after the FDR reconstruction was compared. The FDR technique was satisfactorily implemented to restore the structural capacity of a failed asphalt pavement. The pavements with FDR layers yielded at least two times more allowable passes than the conventional pavements. The FDR-surface pavement sections also demonstrated structural competency to support the expedient operation of heavy aircraft. The performance data generated from this project must be implemented to improve current practices in the design and evaluation of airfield asphalt pavements containing an FDR layer.

  • Topology Optimization for 3D Printing-Driven Anisotropic Components Accounting for Stress and Displacement Constraints

    Abstract: Concrete 3D printing produces a layered macrostructure with different properties in three orthogonal directions, while new techniques allow printing at different orientations. Can printing with spatially variable layer-to-layer interface orientations produce lighter structures while stress and displacement limits are met? This study establishes the connection between experimentally measured properties of printed concrete samples and parameters of orthotropic elasticity and orthotropic yielding. Building upon this connection, a topology optimization framework is built that minimizes weight with respect to the material distribution and spatially variable layer orientation, while simultaneously addressing stress and displacement constraints. This framework is implemented via the Augmented Lagrangian approach and the Method of Moving Asymptotes, and sensitivities are calculated using the adjoint method to reduce computational cost. To expedite convergence without constraint violations, the concept of offset tolerances is introduced and by introducing a cubic term in the displacement constraints accelerating it at large constraint violations and introducing a density-weighted change norm for the orientation angles to eliminate the effect of inconsequential orientation variations in regions of negligible density. This framework enables investigation of fixed vs. variable orientation, tension-compression asymmetry vs. symmetry in achieving low weights, and the relative effect of stress vs. displacement constraints in minimizing weight.

  • Wave Kinematics-Based Bathymetry Estimates from Satellite Optical Video

    Abstract: Here, cBathyShortDwell, a version of the spectral depth inversion algorithm cBathy adapted for shorter record lengths, was applied to four 29.9-60s satellite-based optical videos and the resulting bathymetry estimates were compared to surveys collected within 13 days of each satellite collect. The Planet SkySat videos were collected at the ERDC Field Research Facility between April and September 2023. The videos were collected at 30Hz with a ground sampling pixel resolution of 0.75-1 m and an image size of approximately 2.5km x 1km. RMSEs from post-processed cBathyShortDwell depth estimates over the 800 m x 1100 m analysis domain using the entire video duration at a 5 Hz frame rate ranged from 0.50 to 0.59 m with biases ranging from -0.19 to 0.16 m. Although some differences were seen in the RMSEs as a function of frame rate, larger differences were observed due to video length, wave visibility in the imagery, and incident wave conditions. The highest RMSEs were observed in short video lengths or low wave visibility. These results are comparable to published RMSE values from established versions of the algorithm and demonstrate the ability of cBathyShortDwell to provide good depth estimates from satellite videos in a range of environmental conditions.

  • Alkaline Hydrolysis for Degrading the Emerging Munitions Contaminant Methylnitroguanidine and Regenerating Graphene Nanoplatelets for Sustainable Adsorption of Munition Compounds

    Abstract: Alkaline hydrolysis has proven to be an effective treatment technique for several emerging and legacy munition compounds. This study evaluates its effectiveness in degrading the emerging insensitive MC methylnitroguanidine in comparison to NQ. Additionally, the feasibility of regenerating graphene nanoplatelets following adsorption of MCs, including MeNQ, NQ, NTO, TNT, DNAN, and RDX, is investigated. This study is among the first to successfully evaluate MeNQ treatment and proposes a novel strategy to regenerate GnPs for further environmental remediation. Regeneration performance in high-pH solutions was compared with processes using a 30:70 solution of acetonitrile:water and reagent water alone to further determine pH- and solvent-based interactions. In high-pH solutions, NTO was desorbed via electrostatic repulsion, while the other MCs degraded, generating breakdown products consistent with previous studies and current findings. The aqueous ammonium produced during degradation may have been removed by GnPs. The organic-aqueous blend enhanced MC removal, with recovery largely correlating with aqueous solubility, though π-π interactions may have hindered desorption. Adsorption following desorption with these techniques resulted in higher capacities compared to systems using reagent water alone, where desorption aligned with adsorption isotherms. Overall, this study provides valuable insights into MeNQ treatment and the reuse of GnPs for sustainable water remediation.

  • Loch Raven Veterans Administration Medical Center: Historic Context and National Register Evaluation

    Abstract: This project was undertaken to provide the US Department of Veterans Affairs, Construction and Facilities Management Office, with a National Historic Preservation Act, Section 110, evaluation of the Loch Raven Veterans Administration (VA) Medical Center. The approximately 14.85-acre medical center is located in Baltimore, Maryland. The Construction and Facilities Management Office tasked the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (ERDC-CERL) with inventorying and assessing the Loch Raven VA Medical Center for eligibility to the National Register of Historic Places through the creation of a historic context, a description of current conditions, and an analysis of those elements using the appropriate National Register bulletins. The authors recommend that the Loch Raven VA Medical Center not be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places due to a lack of architectural and landscape integrity of the complex; however, it is recommended that Building 1 be reevaluated for the National Register when it turns 50 years of age in 2046.

  • Construction on second project under Tribal Partnership Program has begun

    Construction on a second U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District project under the Tribal Partnership Program has begun. The Lower Brule Sioux Tribe North Ecosystem Restoration Project will help mitigate shoreline erosion along Lake Sharpe in Lower Brule, South Dakota. It is being funded through a cost-sharing agreement between USACE and the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, or LBST, under program requirements.

  • Army Corps Partnership Renovates U.S. Army Reserve Center in New Jersey

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York District, in conjunction with the Army Corps’ Louisville District, is completing a major $26 million renovation of the Caven Point U.S. Army Reserve Center in Jersey City, New Jersey ⎼ a training facility located across the Hudson River from Lower Manhattan where soldiers train part-time for service in times of war, disaster or national emergency.

  • USACE-Albuquerque District invites volunteers to participate in National Public Lands Day events scheduled for Sat. Sept. 27, 2025.

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-Albuquerque District invites the public to join in the annual tradition of public service by participating in National Public Lands Day events at Cochiti and Santa Rosa lakes in New Mexico, and John Martin Reservoir, Colorado, on Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025.

  • USACE FED delivers mission support in Ulchi Freedom Shield 25 Exercise (UFS25)

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – Far East District strengthened readiness in Ulchi Freedom Shield 25 exercise (UFS25) from August 18-28, 2025, at Camp Humphreys and Camp Carroll in South Korea.

  • Design and Validation of Universal and Taxon-Specific 16S rRNA qPCR Primers for Detection of Freshwater Harmful Algal Bloom-Forming Cyanobacteria

    Abstract: Freshwater harmful algal bloom-forming cyanobacteria have become a prominent global concern from environmental and human health perspectives. For timely decision making in taking preventative and mitigative measures, rapid, accurate, sensitive and quantitative tools are needed for the detection and monitoring of toxin-producing cyanobacteria. We report the development of taxon-specific quantitative polymerase chain reaction primers capable of distinguishing 10 cyanobacterial genera or clade from non-target groups and a new set of universal primers capable of amplifying all cyanobacteria species. When evaluated by 4 stringent metrics and primer-template mismatches, these de novo designed qPCR primers outperformed published primers in amplifying the 16S rRNA gene of their target strains of 16 in-house cyanobacterial strains belonging to 10 genera. The 10 best-performing designed primers were validated using field samples from three field locations with historically documented HAB events. Our study demonstrated the effectiveness of our design-screen-evaluation-validation pipeline in developing taxon-specific qPCR primers for detecting and quantifying group-specific target populations and their promising application to field HABs samples. With the advancement of massive parallel sequencing technologies and bioinformatic tools, a community-wide 16S full-length sequencing run can provide a panoramic view of the genetic diversity and site-specific variant info about the target taxa of interest.