In an exciting development for coastal engineering and sediment management, the Engineer Research and Development Center has announced a new funding opportunity, labeled W81EWF-24-SOI-0007. This grant aims to support the evaluation of sediment transport and the morphological evolution of a cross-shore swash zone placement, a project that could revolutionize the way coastal areas are managed and maintained. With an estimated total program funding of $142,500, this opportunity is open to non-federal partners of the Great Lakes Northern Forest Cooperative Ecosystems Studies Unit (CESU).
The focus of this grant centers around Crescent Beach, Indiana, where a unique and innovative dredged sediment placement technique will be employed. This technique involves the unconfined placement of sediment in a cross-shore swash zone (CSSZ) at Portage Park, potentially offering a cost-effective method to transfer sediment from navigation dredging to the subaerial beach. The project stands out for its potential to use natural processes to distribute the placed material over a larger shoreline area. The successful implementation of this project could pave the way for similar strategies in other coastal regions, offering a sustainable solution to shoreline management challenges. The grant’s objectives include operational learning about innovative construction techniques, studying the morphological evolution of the nourishment area, and gathering comprehensive data for future model validation and dredging requirement estimations.
Opportunity ID: 351158
General Information
| Document Type: | Grants Notice |
| Funding Opportunity Number: | W81EWF-24-SOI-0007 |
| Funding Opportunity Title: | Evaluating Sediment Transport and Morphological Evolution of a Cross-shore Swash Zone Placement |
| Opportunity Category: | Discretionary |
| Opportunity Category Explanation: | |
| Funding Instrument Type: | Cooperative Agreement |
| Category of Funding Activity: | Science and Technology and other Research and Development |
| Category Explanation: | |
| Expected Number of Awards: | 1 |
| CFDA Number(s): | 12.630 — Basic, Applied, and Advanced Research in Science and Engineering |
| Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement: | No |
| Version: | Synopsis 1 |
| Posted Date: | Nov 27, 2023 |
| Last Updated Date: | Nov 27, 2023 |
| Original Closing Date for Applications: | Jan 26, 2024 |
| Current Closing Date for Applications: | Jan 26, 2024 |
| Archive Date: | Feb 25, 2024 |
| Estimated Total Program Funding: | $ 142,500 |
| Award Ceiling: | $142,500 |
| Award Floor: | $0 |
Eligibility
| Eligible Applicants: | Others (see text field entitled “Additional Information on Eligibility” for clarification) |
| Additional Information on Eligibility: | This opportunity is restricted to non-federal partners of the Great Lakes Northern Forest Cooperative Ecosystems Studies Unit (CESU). |
Additional Information
| Agency Name: | Engineer Research and Development Center |
| Description: | Crescent Beach, Indiana is regularly nourished from an upland source. The nourishment sediment is transported west by the longshore current towards Burn Harbor and Burns Small Boat Harbor navigation channels. At Burns Small Boat Harbor, the USACE plans to use an innovative dredged sediment placement technique to bring sediment dredged from the harbor to a “cross-shore swash zone” (CSSZ) placement at Portage Park. This provides a unique opportunity to investigate the feasibility of using unconfined swash zone placement into a shore perpendicular spit as a cost-effective method to bring sediment from navigation dredging to the subaerial beach. Allowing the pipe from the dredge to discharge sediment directly into the swash zone and readjusting the pipe position as the shoreline progrades has the potential to build out a shore-perpendicular spit with substantially less equipment requirements on the beach. Natural processes are expected to rework the placed material over a larger stretch of shoreline. Demonstrated success in this project has the potential to make similar strategies more accessible in other settings where it is likely to be successful. Detailed monitoring data that describes hydrodynamic conditions, sediment characteristics, and morphological change after sediment placement is a critical part of this.
The goals for this project are to operationally learn about an innovative construction technique, study the morphological evolution of the nourishment, amass a complete data set for future model validation, and estimate future dredging requirements. To achieve these goals, the work addressing this funding opportunity must: · Provide topographic survey data from five to six backpack mounted LiDAR surveys (or similar), covering the subaerial beach in the vicinity of the placement area prior to construction, reasonably promptly after construction, 1 month after construction, in the winter of 2024 preferably following the first storm event to exceed 1 m offshore wave heights for 4 hours, and in the spring of 2025. · Provide data from five to six bathymetric surveys, with comparable coverage to 25 single beam transects encompassing the placement area and surrounding area at similar times to topographic surveys. · Provide continuous wave and current measurements in 5 to 10 m water depths for up to 10 months. · Provide the sediment gradation at 15 to 20 locations along a cross-shore transect from the dune toe to approximately 10 m water depth before the beach nourishment, promptly after construction, and in the spring 2025. The sediment sampling should occur concurrently with bathymetric surveys. · Provide boat support over one to two days for EcoMapper turbidity data collection to be conducted during construction by USACE researchers. · Provide minor cleaning and visual inspections of turbidity sensors to be deployed by the USACE when collecting other data detailed above. · Provide topographic and bathymetric survey data from two surveys of Crescent Beach, Indiana to infer sediment transport updrift of Burns Harbor and Burns Small Boat Harbor for future dredged volume estimation. The topographic survey data shall be collected using a backpack mounted LiDAR system (or similar) and the bathymetric survey data shall consist of 31 cross-shore single beam transects measured at a similar time as the topographic surveys. The two surveys shall be temporally spaced approximately one month apart following a beach nourishment. Quality control, analyze, and document collected field data in a technical report or peer reviewed journal manuscript. |
| Link to Additional Information: | |
| Grantor Contact Information: | If you have difficulty accessing the full announcement electronically, please contact: Kisha Craig
Contract Specialist Phone 6016345397 |