SEDiment transport COllaborative LABoratory experiment
A Collaborative Community Experiment
The SEDiment Transport COllaborative LABoratory Experiment (SEDCOLAB) is a multi-institutional collaborative laboratory experiment hosted at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory (CHL).
The experiment focuses on sediment transport and morphological response to coastal processes in a highly controlled setting.
Background
The Future of Nearshore Processes Research report (2015) identified three key primary coastal challenges. SEDCOLAB was developed to address one of these challenges: understanding long-term coastal evolution due to natural and anthropogenic processes.
By measuring sediment transport processes under varying hydrodynamic conditions in a controlled laboratory setting, researchers can isolate how waves, currents, and other processes move sediment.
Through recreating specific wave and current scenarios, researchers can measure how sediment moves, improve the physics used in numerical models, and identify sources of uncertainty in morphologic predictions. These advances strengthen our ability to simulate small-scale processes and, in turn, improve long-term forecasts of coastal change.
Goals and Benefits
SEDCOLAB aims to:
- Advance science and foster coastal community collaboration.
- Improve the basic understanding, predictive capabilities, and observational technologies for extreme storm processes.
- Support management decisions related to sediment transport.
- Facilitate the translation of scientific research into its use and application.
- Encourage collaborations between academics and USACE.
- Allow students to interact with other researchers and lab facilities.
- Develop student skills like working with instruments, designing experiments, and analyzing data.
- Research outcomes will be used to improve numerical models and tools that can be used to help stakeholders understand sediment transport and morphodynamic changes at their sites.
Timeline
Summer 2024
May-September 2025
October 2024
Project Teams met in Vicksburg, Mississippi to coordinate planning and logistics with CHL staff.
October 2024
May-September 2025
October 2024
Student Training & Development Week
Students experienced a hands-on learning opportunity with laboratory methods and instrumentation.
May-September 2025
May-September 2025
May-September 2025
Experiments Begin