Rapid Operational Access and Maneuver Support platform for military logistics and operation planning in water environments

Author(s):  
Drew Allan Loney ◽  
Kimberly Collins Pevey ◽  
Jennifer Tate McAlpin ◽  
Benjamin Wright Nelsen ◽  
Brent Harry Hargis

Logistical and combat operations in riverine, estuarine, and coastal environments remain a key military focus due to limited maneuverability, imperfect knowledge, and rapidly changing constraints. Vessel operation in water environments can be enhanced by routing algorithms that integrate mission parameters with environmental data and vessel specifications. These algorithms must update predetermined routes in a timely manner as parameters and specifications change. The US Army Engineer Research and Development Center Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory is developing the capability for military planners to rapidly optimize vessel routes in water environments by extending capabilities of the Rapid Operational Access and Maneuver Support (ROAMS) modeling platform. The ROAMS platform allows users to rapidly generate models of a water environment in limited-information conditions, utilizing the Adaptive Hydraulics and STeady-state spectral WAVE computational engines for the base two-dimensional hydrodynamics and waves, respectively. Routing capabilities are built on path search and penalty-barrier optimization to automatically produce routes that account for temporally changing environmental variables and vessel maneuverability. This work outlines the components of the ROAMS routing package and presents a case study using ROAMS in a northeastern American metropolitan area. Benefits and limitations of the ROAMS routing platform are discussed and future improvements are suggested.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer McAlpin ◽  
Jason Lavecchia

The Brunswick area consists of many acres of estuarine and marsh environments. The US Army Corps of Engineers District, Savannah, requested that the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory, develop a validated Adaptive Hydraulics model and assist in using it to perform hydrodynamic modeling of proposed navigation channel modifications. The modeling results are necessary to provide data for ship simulation. The model setup and validation are presented here.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer McAlpin ◽  
Cassandra Ross

The Houston Ship Channel (HSC) is one of the busiest deep-draft navigation channels in the United States and must be able to accommodate increasing vessel sizes. The US Army Engineer District, Galveston (SWG), requested the Engineer Research and Development Center, Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory, perform hydrodynamic and sediment modeling of proposed modifications in Galveston and Trinity Bays and along the HSC. The modeling results are necessary to provide data for hydrodynamic, salinity, and sediment transport analysis. SWG provided three project alternatives that include closing Rollover Pass, Bay Aquatic Beneficial Use System cells, Bird Islands, and HSC modifications. These alternatives and a Base (existing condition) will be simulated for present (2029) and future (2079) conditions. The results of these alternatives/conditions as compared to the Base are presented in this report. The model shows that the mean salinity varies by 2–3 ppt due to the HSC channel modifications and by approximately 5 ppt in the area of East Bay due to the closure of Rollover Pass. The tidal prism increases by 2.5% to 5% in the alternatives. The tidal amplitudes change by less than 0.01 m. The residual velocity vectors vary in and around areas where project modifications are made.


Author(s):  
Denis D. Rickman ◽  
John Q. Ehrgott ◽  
Stephen A. Akers ◽  
Jon E. Windham ◽  
Dennis W. Moore

During the past several years, the US Army has focused considerable attention toward developing improved methods for breaching walls in the urban combat environment. A major thrust area is centered on finding improved methods to breach the toughest wall type that Army units are likely to face: a double (steel) reinforced concrete (RC) wall. One impediment to this effort is that the relationship between the contact explosive charge configuration and the quantity of concrete removed has not been thoroughly understood. The U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center has conducted a research effort to better define the effectiveness of various explosive charge configurations in breaching RC walls. This paper presents a discussion of results from this research.


2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine von Stackelberg ◽  
Donna Vorhees ◽  
Dwayne Moore ◽  
Jerome Cura ◽  
Todd Bridges

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brittany L. Bruder ◽  
Katherine L. Brodie ◽  
Tyler J. Hesser ◽  
Nicholas J. Spore ◽  
Matthew W. Farthing ◽  
...  

This US Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory, technical report details guiBathy, a graphical user interface to estimate nearshore bathymetry from imagery collected via a hovering Unmanned Aerial System (UAS). guiBathy provides an end-to-end solution for non-subject-matter-experts to utilize commercia-off-the-shelf UAS to collect quantitative imagery of the nearshore by packaging robust photogrammetric and signal-processing algorithms into an easy-to-use software interface. This report begins by providing brief background on coastal imaging and the photogrammetry and bathymetric inversion algorithms guiBathy utilizes, as well as UAS data collection requirements. The report then describes guiBathy software specifications, features, and workflow. Example guiBathy applications conclude the report with UAS bathymetry measurements taken during the 2020 Atlantic Hurricane Season, which compare favorably (root mean square error = 0.44 to 0.72 m; bias = -0.35 to -0.11 m) with in situ survey measurements. guiBathy is a standalone executable software for Windows 10 platforms and will be freely available at www.github.com/erdc.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Chappell ◽  
Wu-Sheng Shih ◽  
Cynthia Price ◽  
Rishi Patel ◽  
Daniel Janzen ◽  
...  

This report details a study investigating the environmental impacts associated with the development and manufacturing of carbon nanotube (CNT)–based ink (called CNTRENE 1030 material) and novel CNT temperature, flex, and moisture sensors. Undertaken by a private-public partnership involving Brewer Science (Rolla, Missouri), Jordan Valley Innovation Center of Missouri State University (Springfield, Missouri), and the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center (Vicksburg, Mississippi), this work demonstrates the environmental life cycle assessment (ELCA) methodology as a diagnostic tool to pinpoint the particular processes and materials posing the greatest environmental impact associated with the manufacture of the CNTRENE material and CNT-based sensor devices. Additionally, ELCA tracked the degree to which optimizing the device manufacturing process for full production also changed its predicted marginal environmental impacts.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy Sharp ◽  
Locke Williams ◽  
Duncan Bryant ◽  
Jake Allgeier ◽  
Kevin Pigg ◽  
...  

The US Army Corps of Engineers, Louisville District, requested the support and assistance of the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory (CHL), in the evaluation of the hydraulic performance of the replacement Outlet Works for Rough River Dam. To support the design effort, CHL constructed a 1:25.85 scale physical model. The proposed features of the model in the domain are the curved approach channel, intake structure, transition, curved conduit, stilling basin, concrete apron, and retreat channel. Tests performed to evaluate the hydraulic performance illuminated a few design concerns. To address these issues, several key design changes were made. These included the retreat channel slope, end sill design, and transition design.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelsey Fall ◽  
David Perkey ◽  
Zachary Tyler ◽  
Timothy Welp

The Seven Mile Island Innovation Laboratory (SMIIL) was launched in 2019 to evaluate beneficial use of dredge material management practices in coastal New Jersey. As part of that effort, the Philadelphia District requested that the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory, collect data to characterize the hydrodynamics and turbidity within the central portions of the SMIIL prior to and during dredge material placement. Pre-dredge monitoring found that apart from punctuated wind events, the study area waters were generally calm and clear with small waves, <0.25 m, slow current speeds (~0.1 m/s), low turbidity (~10 ntus), and low suspended sediment concentrations (~10–20 mg/L). In March 2020, 2,475 m³ of dredged sediment was placed on the northern portion of Sturgeon Island within the SMIIL. Turbidity in the waters surrounding the island was monitored to quantify extent of the sediment plume resulting from the placement. Observations found little to no turbidity plume associated with the dredging operations beyond 20 m from the island and that the plume was largely limited to areas near a tidal creek draining the placement area. Additionally, turbidity levels quickly returned to background conditions at times when the dredge was not in operation.


Author(s):  
Greg H. Parlier

This chapter explains the origination, evolution, emerging results, and potential long-term impacts of one particularly daunting enterprise transformation effort within the US Department of Defense. It offers a unique case study for a multi-disciplinary endeavor referred to as the project to Transform US Army Supply Chains (TASC Project). The TASC project pursued comprehensive and creative applications using a variety of Operations Research methods, advanced analytics, and management innovation to improve tactical, operational, and strategic decision making for the military's global sustainment enterprise. This chapter may be of interest to those confronting supply chain and other complex enterprise transformation challenges: national security officials; aerospace, defense, and industrial professionals; university graduate students and professors of engineering systems, operations research, and management. The strategy described herein offers potential solutions broadly applicable to other public institutions and government bureaucracies as well.


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