Power of ERDC U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC)

When river levels rise, so does the threat of sand boils, which occur when water bubbles out of the ground near the base of a levee, surrounded by a mound of displaced soil. Caused by increased pressure, sand boils are a visible sign that erosion is occurring within a levee. And unless they are treated immediately, these sand boils will grow and more sediment will be displaced, escalating the risk of a catastrophic breach. However, the current method for fighting sand boils is difficult, expensive and dangerous, requiring hundreds of sandbags.



To simplify this cumbersome process, ERDC researchers have developed a special lightweight filter that can be inserted into a sand boil to alleviate the pressure and stop the erosion. A single person could install it in about 15 minutes, allowing personnel to alleviate multiple sand boils more safely and efficiently – providing greater protection to our nation’s critical levee systems and the lives and livelihoods they defend.



We discuss these Sand Boil Filter kits with Samantha Lucker, a research geologist with ERDC’s Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory.



We talk about why sand boils must be promptly addressed (5:04), and how ERDC’s new filters will improve on the current process (7:56) and enable better levee management (9:04). We also discuss how this effort started (17:00), how it builds on ERDC’s deep expertise in studying the Mississippi River (22:54), and how researchers are improving the filter’s design (21:00) to increase its usage (25:23).



For more information on these Sand Boil Filter kits, contact Lucker at Samantha.L.Lucker (at) usace.army.mil.



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

Monitoring large and constantly changing coastlines can be expensive, time consuming and dangerous. Traditional surveying methods are also limited because they only provide a single snapshot in time and don’t capture the full picture. As a result, coastal managers don’t always have the information they need to understand dynamic coastal conditions and plan projects that preserve our nation’s coasts, protect the environment, and support the economy.



To overcome this knowledge gap, ERDC launched CorpsCam, which uses remote video technology to better monitor federal beach and other coastal projects. CorpsCam can rapidly analyze a variety of images, from cellphone pictures uploaded by citizen scientists to scientific-grade video captured by high-end cameras, to provide hourly data on beach state, erosion rates, bathymetry, wave parameters and more. It is enabling better project designs and more proactive coastal management.



Joining us to talk about CorpsCam are Dr. Brittany Bruder, Dr. Ian Conery and Sean McGill from ERDC’s Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory (CHL). Bruder is a research coastal engineer based at CHL’s Field Research Facility (FRF) on North Carolina’s Outer Banks, and Conery is a research oceanographer based at the FRF. McGill is a research physical scientist at CHL’s Vicksburg location.



Topics include what CorpsCam is and how it can improve coastal resilience (4:06), how it got started (18:50), and the types of locations the effort is targeting (12:48). We also talk about ERDC’s Field Research Facility and its capabilities (22:21) and growing military portfolio (26:36). And we discuss past CorpsCam projects (28:11) and what lies ahead for this effort (39:06).



For more information on CorpsCam, visit https://coastalimaging.erdc.dren.mil/CorpsCam or email Bruder at Brittany.L.Bruder (at) usace.army.mil.



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

We talk with Dr. Ben Parsons, chief technology officer with the High Performance Computing Modernization Program (HPCMP), about how the program enables the Department of Defense (DOD) to solve its most critical mission challenges.



Managed by ERDC, the HPCMP delivers world-class high-performance computing and expertise to DOD engineers and scientists. Its five DOD Supercomputing Resource Centers are spread throughout the country and deliver 7.8 billion processor hours of computing power each year to support some of the world’s largest computational projects. The program provides the DOD research and acquisition communities access to insight that would otherwise be too costly, dangerous, or time intensive to obtain through observation and experiment alone.



We talk with Ben about why supercomputing is important to the DOD research community (4:14), ERDC’s role in the HPCMP (6:18), and how much combined computing power the program provides to DOD researchers (8:43). We also discuss specific projects that have been enabled by the HPCMP (13:44, 16:30), how it improves DOD acquisition efforts (15:25), how the team ensures the program remains on the cutting edge as computer technology continuously evolves (13:03) and what lies ahead on the HPCMP’s horizon (22:25).



Visit https://www.PowerofERDCPodcast.org for more information.

We talk with Dr. Orian Welling and Mr. Michael Parker from ERDC’s Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory about how ERDC’s cold weather mobility expertise will directly help the U.S. military better protect and defend the Arctic.



As the Arctic grows in strategic importance to the United States, the region also presents unique challenges to military mobility. Heavy duty tires designed for rugged terrains don’t handle as well on cold, slick surfaces. And ice and snow aren’t the only challenges facing military vehicles in Arctic environments. In fact, mobility becomes even more difficult during the spring months when frozen ground begins to thaw, and the terrain is transformed into a muddy, swampy quagmire.



ERDC’s research is enabling better cold weather tires and leading to robust cross-country mobility models that can forecast ice thickness, snow depth and thaw, and predict which vehicles can perform where in Arctic conditions. ERDC is also providing knowledge and developing algorithms and systems that will allow autonomous manned and unmanned systems to navigate in cold regions.



We talk with Orian and Mike about how their unique backgrounds contribute to this research (6:41, 30:16), why the Army needs to study Arctic mobility (4:13), the unique challenges of the spring thaw (34:47), and how the expertise of CRREL’s mobility team (8:57) and the laboratory’s world-class specialized facilities (11:27) enable this capability. We also discuss specific projects, such as work on winter tires (16:54), mobility models (25:56) and cold weather autonomy (21:21). And we talk about how the effort benefits from ERDC’s cross-disciplinary research (38:07), as well as from partnerships and international collaboration (40:34).



Visit https://www.PowerofERDCPodcast.org for more information.

We talk with Jeremy Herring and Kelly Ervin from ERDC’s Information Technology Laboratory about how ERDC is enabling next-generation engineering by applying augmented reality and virtual reality capabilities.



These disruptive technologies can help solve a diverse range of current and future problems by immersing users in virtual scenes. As uses continue to grow, ERDC established the Dynamic Immersive Virtual Environment laboratory in December 2019 to study how to best apply augmented and virtual reality to help the Department of Defense, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other federal agencies.



Their research is producing tools that allow users to clearly visualize problems and proposed solutions, enabling more informed decisions. It will result in better facility and infrastructure planning, improved communication, enhanced construction practices, more robust training opportunities and more.



We discuss with Jeremy and Kelly how ERDC’s augmented and virtual reality effort got started (17:48), the transformative benefits offered by these technologies (7:51), and how they can change the way we communicate (15:36). We also talk about ERDC’s unique capabilities (28:05) and past efforts in this space (19:18), how this research can help the military (33:12) and what lies ahead on the cutting edge (38:55).



Visit https://www.PowerofERDCPodcast.org for more information.

Soldiers are often forced to operate using outdated geospatial data that may not accurately represent current ground conditions. This creates challenges when trying to find the best possible routes for troop maneuvers or when selecting helicopter landing zones.



The U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) is developing a series of tools to solve this problem. These tools enable Army geospatial engineers to rapidly process new remotely sensed imagery from a variety of sources and use it to analyze current terrain conditions. Processes that once took hours can now be completed in seconds or minutes, and with higher accuracy, giving the Warfighter superior situational awareness and knowledge of the operational environment.



On the latest episode of the Power of ERDC podcast, we discuss this project with Nikki Wayant, research geographer at ERDC’s Geospatial Research Laboratory and task lead for the Enhanced Terrain Processing effort.



We discuss the challenges caused by outdated geospatial data (3:17), the wide range of tools and terrain analysis products available through the Enhanced Terrain Processing effort (14:55), how these tools allow data to be combined in new ways (18:37, 23:32) and how they enable mission success (12:48). We also talk about the relationship with the Army Geospatial Center’s Military Support Team and how it enables better products (20:23), when the tools will be available to Soldiers (20:06), how the effort has evolved through machine learning (30:16), and what the future holds for it (31:58).



Visit https://www.PowerofERDCPodcast.org for more information.