EM 1110-2-1100 (Part I)
30 Apr 02
(3) Field Research Facility. Prior to its move to Fort Belvoir, CERC had planned and budgeted to
construct a Field Research Facility (FRF) to evaluate and examine coastal phenomena on prototype (full-size)
scale. CERC learned that the U.S. Navy was preparing to surplus a bombing range at Duck, North Carolina,
and acquired the property in 1973. On 29 August 1980, the 50th Anniversary of the creation of the Beach
Erosion Board, the FRF was officially opened. The 73.7-hectare (182-acre) FRF stretches from ocean to
sound, contains a 589-m (1800-foot) pier and laboratory facilities and is used for physical and biological
studies (Mason 1979). Meteorological, topographical and oceanographic data are continuously recorded, and
the staff conduct research projects at the site and frequently host large field experiments involving other
Federal, state and local agencies, plus U.S. and foreign universities. The FRF's advantages of ocean location,
research pier, sophisticated infrastructure, synoptic and continuing hydrodynamic and process database, and
experienced staff are unique in the United States. Data are accessible on the Internet at the FRF's Web page:
http://www.frf.usace.army.mil/frf.html
(4) Shore Protection Manual. When first established, CERC was the only Federal agency with a mission
in coastal engineering and almost alone in funding studies of waves and their effects. The research programs
at CERC, with their field and laboratory testing and data collection, had an immense practical value. CERC's
first combined volume containing guidance on coastal science and engineering was Shore Protection,
Planning, and Design, Technical Report No. 4 (TR-4), first issued in 1954. The USACE District and
Division staffs had a need to apply the data and research results reported by CERC into useful design tools,
and they often relied on TR-4 and some related Engineering Manuals published by HQUSACE for design
guidance. The Shore Protection Manual (SPM) was first published by CERC in 1973 as the updated
replacement for TR-4. CERC used the SPM as its primary technology transfer mechanism for many years,
with a second edition printed in 1975, a third in 1977, and a fourth and final edition in 1984.
(5) Waterways Experiment Station. A number of events and policy changes in the early 1980's shifted
CERC's emphasis into more applied research and moved the laboratory to the Waterways Experiment Station
(WES) in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Despite disruptions caused by the 1983 relocation and declining research
budgets, CERC prospered in Vicksburg. Reimbursable project work more than compensated for the decline.
Mathematical modeling, sophisticated wave tanks and basins (part of the reason for the move), and a closer,
more responsive relation with the USACE District and Division staffs all contributed to increased workload.
(6) The Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory. In the early 1990s, due to political and policy changes,
Federal funding for the beach erosion control and flood control projects was severely curtailed and closely
regulated. This resulted in reduced research funding and a decrease in the number of new beach erosion
control and flood control studies at CERC and the Hydraulics Laboratory. During 1996, both laboratories
were combined into one new entity, the Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory (CHL). CERC's traditional
functions such as coastal engineering research, design guidance development such as this manual, and design
assistance are still provided by the CHL with the advice of the CERB and a field review group of Division
and District staff engineers.
I-3-8 Coastal Engineering in the Military
a. Amphibious operations. Amphibious military operations are not new. Herodotus (1992, translation)
describes, in The Histories, how Xerxes constructed and used a floating causeway across the Hellespont (the
Dardanelles) in 480 B.C. The first amphibious operation in the Americas was the 49-day siege of the French
Fortress of Louisburg on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada, in 1745. The Chief Engineer of the
operation was Richard Gridley who published that same year the first map in America, a "Plan of the City
and Fortifications of Louisburg," and who later became the first Chief Engineer under Commander-in-Chief
George Washington in 1775. Many amphibious operations were conducted in North Africa, Italy, France,
and the Pacific during World War (W.W.) II. These exercises taught us that for a successful over-the-beach
History of Coastal Engineering
I-3-23
Previous Page
