Corps of Engineers navigation research and development programs through coordination and
overview in the Technical Directors' Office at CHL. The CIRP reports results at an annual
program review comprised of members of Corps of Engineers Headquarters and of Divisions and
Districts. Distinguished civilian scientists and engineers of the Coastal Engineering Research
Board also participate in the annual review, where activities and progress are described and input
is obtained to guide work being conducted by the CIRP.
The six research work units are listed in Table 1, together with a short summary indicating
representative work unit responsibilities. The CIRP is funded at approximately .5 million
annually. These funds are distributed among the work units according to overall program
objective, individual work unit activities, and product streams for the particular year.
Table 1. Organization of the CIRP
Work Unit
Representative Subjects Covered
Sediment budgets, channel shoaling, interactions between
Inlet Channels and Adjacent Shorelines
inlets and the adjacent beaches, decision-support
predictive models
Morphologic behavior at longer time and space scales,
Inlet Geomorphology and Channel Evolution
geomorphic controls; & quantitative predictive models
Computationally intensive predictive models of waves,
Inlet Modeling System
currents, sediment transport, and morphology change
Scour at Inlets and Jetty Modification
Scour prediction and prevention, jetty rehabilitation
Basic processes at inlets, data for other work units, jetty
Physical Modeling and Inlet Engineering
functional design
Field data collection, instrument development, analysis
Field Data Collection and Analysis
software
Coordination of program, development of interfaces for
Program Management and Technology Transfer
models and decision-support tools, wide range of
technology transfer mechanisms
Synergisms and Leveraging
The CIRP collaborates with other Corps of Engineers research programs to leverage funds
and avoid duplication. Two such programs are the Dredging Operations and Environmental
sediment transport is investigated, and the Regional Sediment Management Program
inlets because of dredging and sediment bypassing. The CIRP coordinates with General
Investigations research work units, such as the Diagnostic Modeling System (DMS
4 years) and typically deal with specialized topics, e.g., waves and currents in the surf zone.
The CIRP also collaborates with Corps of Engineers Districts in their ongoing or upcoming
inlet studies. Typically, in these joint projects the District funds field data collection, and the
CIRP both supplements the data collection and conducts related analytical studies. In this way,
research funding can be dedicated to ongoing fundamental research and predictive modeling, and
CIRP staff learns first-hand the needs of Districts. Lessons learned and technology developed in
these collaborative case studies can then be transferred nationally through the CIRP.
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