#29: Underkeel Clearance: Quantifying demand for USACE dredging

Power of ERDC

Content provided by U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), U.S. Army Engineer Research, and Development Center (ERDC). All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), U.S. Army Engineer Research, and Development Center (ERDC) or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.

9M ago 39:17

MP3•Episode home

The ships calling upon U.S. ports have grown larger, and navigation channels must be dredged to greater depths to handle them. However, dredging is expensive, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) needs more data-driven tools to prioritize limited resources more efficiently.

Responding to this need, ERDC developed Underkeel Clearance. Applying newly available ship location data and combining it with other data points, this metric directly measures how often ship keels approach the bottom of a channel. By analyzing how ships are using the dredging USACE already provides and highlighting the areas with the highest volume of ships with limited clearance, Underkeel Clearance gives USACE waterway managers new insight to better quantify channel maintenance requirements. The project falls under the USACE Coastal Inlets Research Program.

We discuss Underkeel Clearance with Dr. David Young and Dr. Brandan Scully, research civil engineers at ERDC’s Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory.

Topics include how dredging decisions have traditionally been made (3:07), how Underkeel Clearance can improve this methodology (5:33) and surprises that have emerged as researchers began analyzing Underkeel Clearance data (14:46). We also talk about how this tool could change USACE dredging operations (17:23), other use cases of this data (21:32) and what the future holds for the effort (33:47).

For more information on the Power of ERDC podcast, visit https://www.PowerofERDCPodcast.org.

33 episodes

#Science #Tech #Government #U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC #Development Center (ERDC #U.S. Army Engineer Research