DOER Research Team


	DOER Research Team

	U.S. Army Corps of Engineers \| Engineer Research and Development Center \| Warning

Focus area - Dredged Material Management
POC: Joseph Gailani

Dredging Model, Data, and Project Interfaces Joseph Gailani

Improve capabilities to plan and manage dredging projects through integrated data handling and modeling systems. Develop integrated tools for information management, model analysis, and dredged material & survey data analysis.

Dredging and Aquatic Placement Operations and Management Jarrell Smith

Develop and validate technologies, techniques, and guidance to assess impact of dredging operations and aquatic placement for environmentally sound, efficient, and cost effective dredging. Increase capability to enhance dredging operations through aquatic placement. Provide guidance for improved placement techniques and application of new technologies. Develop understanding of and capability to predict sediment pathways and rates from dredging and placement sites.

Confined Disposal Facility Placement, Management, and Reclamation Paul Schroeder

Develop guidance & methodologies for maximizing CDF efficiency, environmental compliance, and minimizing costs of CDF reclamation and placement operations

Beneficial Uses of Dredged Material Richard A. Price

Develop knowledge, technology, and guidance necessary to test, evaluate, and use dredged material for beneficial purposes, including beneficial "site" uses, such as wetlands, upland, beach/littoral zone nourishment, and aquatic habitat; and beneficial "material" uses such as topsoil, landfill cover, and bricks. This topic area includes Suitability testing and evaluation (to include contaminated sediment testing, but not management or risk analysis & management.)

Focus area - Environmental Resource Protection
POC: Douglas Clarke

Threatened and Endangered Species Protection Dena Dickerson

The objective of this work unit is to expand the technical knowledge base upon which decisions are currently made for protection of species perceived to be at high risk during the conduct of dredging or dredged material disposal projects. Tools will be developed to assist dredging project managers comply with existing legislation, fully coordinate existing expertise, and fill gaps in knowledge such that protective measures are firmly based in science.

Habitat Protection Gary Ray

Certain very problematic restrictions placed on dredging operations are intended to protect habitat rather than individual species. This research will address several longstanding concerns for specific modes of disturbance such as sedimentation and noise.

Environmental Windows Douglas Clarke

Significant effort has been devoted under DOER to date to resolve complex technical issues related to environmental windows. This work unit will support continuation of those efforts to promote cost effective dredging project management strategies.

Focus area - Innovative Technologies
POC: Timothy Welp

Evaluations and Cooperative Demonstrations Timothy Welp

The objective of this work unit is to identify, demonstrate, and evaluate emerging dredging, placement, and other technologies in cooperation with Districts. Recommendations or guidelines for applying these technologies on Corps projects will also be provided. This work unit will also document and transfer successful management and contracting strategies, equipment, etc., used by individual Districts or Divisions to the entire Corps.

Streamlining Dredging Data Flow and SI Evolution James Rosati

This work unit will conduct research to improve dredging contract management, economics (cost optimization), and contaminated sediments (document dredging and placement locations). A key effort will expand routine use of SI to pipeline and mechanical dredging contracts, particularly those involving contaminated sediments. Expanded use of SI will also assist in confirming that dredges are being operated correctly to reduce harm to threatened and endangered species. The research will expand analysis of dredge production and efficiency, and greatly improve dataflow. Uncertainties in mass and volume of dredged material as it moves through the excavation, transportation, and placement process will be investigated, providing managers with improved estimates of sediment losses and error bars associated with these estimates.

Dredging Operations Decision Support System Gary Howell

The Dredging Operations Decision Support System (DODSS) will assimilate the data from the various dredging/disposal and related databases (e.g. SI, RSMGIS-DMSMART), models (e.g. MDFATE), related hydrodynamic and environmental forcing functions databases (PMAS), economics databases (e.g., OMBIL, CEFMS) and corporate experience on specific projects within a knowledge based system to assist District staff making decisions on dredging and disposal site management.

Fluid Mud Measurement and the Definition of Navigable Depth Timothy Welp

This work unit will identify, demonstrate, and evaluate established and emerging measurement technologies to improve fluid mud characterization, develop criteria for defining the limiting depth for safe navigation in areas of fluid mud, and provide engineering recommendations for Corps implementation of the navigable depth concept. Identify the fluid mud surveying methods, definitions of "bottom", and management practices of the different Districts, and navigable depth definition, measurement, and management practices of European countries. Demonstrate the most promising technologies and evaluate them for use in reducing fluid mud measurement ambiguities between different Districts. Establish the criteria to define and measure navigable depth, and, in conjunction with the results from the other fluid mud measurement research tasks, provide engineering recommendations for Corps implementation.

Focus area - Risk
POC: Todd S. Bridges, Ph.D.

Exposure Assessment Methods and Approaches Dr. Paul Schroeder

Assessing exposure potential during the conduct of a risk assessment requires information on the processes and mechanisms controlling contaminant bioavailability, an understanding of contaminant exposure pathways, and models for projecting the physically and biologically mediated movement of contaminants within the system. Guidance and tools must be developed for assessing exposure through contaminant bioaccumulation and trophic transfer that reduce reliance on hyper-conservative and unrealistic default assumptions.

Effects Assessment Procedures and Tools Dr. Jeffery Steevens

Assessing the effects posed by contaminants in dredged material requires using information on the toxicology of the contaminants present. The dredging program uses effects-based testing to provide this information. Acute toxicity tests have been used for more than 20 years to evaluate the suitability of dredged material for open-water disposal. However, acute tests may not provide adequate protection in all cases. Chronic and/or sublethal toxicity tests have been developed for a limited number of species, although the benefits and/or consequences of adding such tests to the assessment suite is undetermined. The potential for effects on aquatic organisms is also assessed using data from bioaccumulation tests, which requires the use of tissue-based toxicology data, such as can be found in the Environmental Residue-Effects Database. Effects assessments for terrestrial wildlife and humans makes use of other dose-based approaches.

Risk Characterization Approaches and Methods Development Dr. Todd Bridges

In making dredged material management decisions, project managers must balance the environmental risks posed by disposal activities against the costs associated with managing those risks. Making effective use of risk assessment tools to reach management decisions requires using a comparative approach that considers the risks and costs associated with each of the available management alternatives. Project manager must be able to justify, using quantitative information, the selection of a specific management alternative and the environmental benefit, i.e., relative risk reduction, associated with that selection.

Risk Management in the Dredging Program Dr. Carlos Ruiz

In cases where an assessment of dredged material results in the conclusion that unacceptable risks are likely, decisions must be reached as to how to manage those risks. The management alternatives currently available to the navigation dredging program, and their costs, range broadly and include unrestricted open-water disposal, confined aquatic disposal, near-shore or upland confined disposal, and treatment. The decision as to which broadly defined management alternative to implement will be aided by the results of a comparative assessment. However, factoring in all the scientific, engineering, economic, cultural, societal, and political information that must be used to reach a decision can overwhelm the decision making process.

| Reports | Technical notes | Bulletins | Research briefs |
| DOER | EL/DOTS | CHL/DREDGING |
Comments / Whom to contact
Webdate February 1998
Updated August 2004

Focus area - Dredged Material Management POC: Joseph Gailani

Dredging Model, Data, and Project Interfaces	Joseph Gailani
Improve capabilities to plan and manage dredging projects through integrated data handling and modeling systems. Develop integrated tools for information management, model analysis, and dredged material & survey data analysis.

Dredging and Aquatic Placement Operations and Management	Jarrell Smith
Develop and validate technologies, techniques, and guidance to assess impact of dredging operations and aquatic placement for environmentally sound, efficient, and cost effective dredging. Increase capability to enhance dredging operations through aquatic placement. Provide guidance for improved placement techniques and application of new technologies. Develop understanding of and capability to predict sediment pathways and rates from dredging and placement sites.

Confined Disposal Facility Placement, Management, and Reclamation	Paul Schroeder
Develop guidance & methodologies for maximizing CDF efficiency, environmental compliance, and minimizing costs of CDF reclamation and placement operations

Beneficial Uses of Dredged Material	Richard A. Price
Develop knowledge, technology, and guidance necessary to test, evaluate, and use dredged material for beneficial purposes, including beneficial "site" uses, such as wetlands, upland, beach/littoral zone nourishment, and aquatic habitat; and beneficial "material" uses such as topsoil, landfill cover, and bricks. This topic area includes Suitability testing and evaluation (to include contaminated sediment testing, but not management or risk analysis & management.)


Focus area - Environmental Resource Protection POC: Douglas Clarke


Threatened and Endangered Species Protection	Dena Dickerson
The objective of this work unit is to expand the technical knowledge base upon which decisions are currently made for protection of species perceived to be at high risk during the conduct of dredging or dredged material disposal projects. Tools will be developed to assist dredging project managers comply with existing legislation, fully coordinate existing expertise, and fill gaps in knowledge such that protective measures are firmly based in science.

Habitat Protection	Gary Ray
Certain very problematic restrictions placed on dredging operations are intended to protect habitat rather than individual species. This research will address several longstanding concerns for specific modes of disturbance such as sedimentation and noise.

Environmental Windows	Douglas Clarke
Significant effort has been devoted under DOER to date to resolve complex technical issues related to environmental windows. This work unit will support continuation of those efforts to promote cost effective dredging project management strategies.


Focus area - Innovative Technologies POC: Timothy Welp


Evaluations and Cooperative Demonstrations	Timothy Welp
The objective of this work unit is to identify, demonstrate, and evaluate emerging dredging, placement, and other technologies in cooperation with Districts. Recommendations or guidelines for applying these technologies on Corps projects will also be provided. This work unit will also document and transfer successful management and contracting strategies, equipment, etc., used by individual Districts or Divisions to the entire Corps.

Streamlining Dredging Data Flow and SI Evolution	James Rosati
This work unit will conduct research to improve dredging contract management, economics (cost optimization), and contaminated sediments (document dredging and placement locations). A key effort will expand routine use of SI to pipeline and mechanical dredging contracts, particularly those involving contaminated sediments. Expanded use of SI will also assist in confirming that dredges are being operated correctly to reduce harm to threatened and endangered species. The research will expand analysis of dredge production and efficiency, and greatly improve dataflow. Uncertainties in mass and volume of dredged material as it moves through the excavation, transportation, and placement process will be investigated, providing managers with improved estimates of sediment losses and error bars associated with these estimates.

Dredging Operations Decision Support System	Gary Howell
The Dredging Operations Decision Support System (DODSS) will assimilate the data from the various dredging/disposal and related databases (e.g. SI, RSMGIS-DMSMART), models (e.g. MDFATE), related hydrodynamic and environmental forcing functions databases (PMAS), economics databases (e.g., OMBIL, CEFMS) and corporate experience on specific projects within a knowledge based system to assist District staff making decisions on dredging and disposal site management.

Fluid Mud Measurement and the Definition of Navigable Depth	Timothy Welp
This work unit will identify, demonstrate, and evaluate established and emerging measurement technologies to improve fluid mud characterization, develop criteria for defining the limiting depth for safe navigation in areas of fluid mud, and provide engineering recommendations for Corps implementation of the navigable depth concept. Identify the fluid mud surveying methods, definitions of "bottom", and management practices of the different Districts, and navigable depth definition, measurement, and management practices of European countries. Demonstrate the most promising technologies and evaluate them for use in reducing fluid mud measurement ambiguities between different Districts. Establish the criteria to define and measure navigable depth, and, in conjunction with the results from the other fluid mud measurement research tasks, provide engineering recommendations for Corps implementation.


Focus area - Risk POC: Todd S. Bridges, Ph.D.


Exposure Assessment Methods and Approaches	Dr. Paul Schroeder
Assessing exposure potential during the conduct of a risk assessment requires information on the processes and mechanisms controlling contaminant bioavailability, an understanding of contaminant exposure pathways, and models for projecting the physically and biologically mediated movement of contaminants within the system. Guidance and tools must be developed for assessing exposure through contaminant bioaccumulation and trophic transfer that reduce reliance on hyper-conservative and unrealistic default assumptions.

Effects Assessment Procedures and Tools	Dr. Jeffery Steevens
Assessing the effects posed by contaminants in dredged material requires using information on the toxicology of the contaminants present. The dredging program uses effects-based testing to provide this information. Acute toxicity tests have been used for more than 20 years to evaluate the suitability of dredged material for open-water disposal. However, acute tests may not provide adequate protection in all cases. Chronic and/or sublethal toxicity tests have been developed for a limited number of species, although the benefits and/or consequences of adding such tests to the assessment suite is undetermined. The potential for effects on aquatic organisms is also assessed using data from bioaccumulation tests, which requires the use of tissue-based toxicology data, such as can be found in the Environmental Residue-Effects Database. Effects assessments for terrestrial wildlife and humans makes use of other dose-based approaches.

Risk Characterization Approaches and Methods Development	Dr. Todd Bridges
In making dredged material management decisions, project managers must balance the environmental risks posed by disposal activities against the costs associated with managing those risks. Making effective use of risk assessment tools to reach management decisions requires using a comparative approach that considers the risks and costs associated with each of the available management alternatives. Project manager must be able to justify, using quantitative information, the selection of a specific management alternative and the environmental benefit, i.e., relative risk reduction, associated with that selection.

Risk Management in the Dredging Program	Dr. Carlos Ruiz
In cases where an assessment of dredged material results in the conclusion that unacceptable risks are likely, decisions must be reached as to how to manage those risks. The management alternatives currently available to the navigation dredging program, and their costs, range broadly and include unrestricted open-water disposal, confined aquatic disposal, near-shore or upland confined disposal, and treatment. The decision as to which broadly defined management alternative to implement will be aided by the results of a comparative assessment. However, factoring in all the scientific, engineering, economic, cultural, societal, and political information that must be used to reach a decision can overwhelm the decision making process.

\| Reports \| Technical notes \| Bulletins \| Research briefs \| \| DOER \| EL/DOTS \| CHL/DREDGING \| Comments / Whom to contact Webdate February 1998 Updated August 2004