A USER'S GUIDE TO CERC'S FIELD RESEARCH FACILITY 



by 

 W.A. Bivkemeiev, A.E. DeWall, 

 C.S. Gorbias, and B.C. Miller 



I. INTRODUCTION 



Federal interest in coastal engineering began in the 1920' s as a result of 

 the ixicreasing shoreline erosion along the recreational beaches in New Jersey. 

 This concern led to the formation of the Beach Erosion Board (BEB) in July 

 1930 as a part of the civil works program of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. 

 The BEB functioned largely as an advisor to the States with coastal erosion 

 problems; however, the increasing need for research became evident. In recog- 

 nition of that need, the BEB began expanding to include an official research 

 program. In 1963, Congress established the Coastal Engineering Research 

 Center (CERC), abolishing the BEB, and broadened the BEB's general investiga- 

 tion responsibilities to form the research mission of CERC. 



CERC's mission, as the principal research and development facility of the 

 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the field of coastal engineering, is to con- 

 ceive, plan, conduct, and publish the results of data collection and research 

 in coastal engineering and nearshore oceanography to provide a better under- 

 standing of the waves, winds, water levels, tides, coastal currents, and the 

 coastal processes resulting from these littoral forces. CERC's research 

 focuses on shore and beach erosion control; coastal flooding and storm pro- 

 tection; navigation improvements; recreation; and the design, construction, 

 operation, and maintenance of coastal and offshore structures. 



Much of CERC's past research in coastal engineering has consisted of 

 laboratory experimentation and theoretical investigations. Supportive field- 

 work has been hampered by a lack of dependable means of obtaining high-quality 

 wave, beach, and water level data, including data during storms. To over- 

 come this deficiency, CERC constructed the Field Research Facility (FRF) on 

 175 acres at Duck, North Carolina (Fig. 1). Located at 36° 10' 54. 6" N. and 

 75°45'5.2" W. (landward end), the FRF consists of a 561-raeter-long (1,840 

 feet) pier (Fig. 2), which was completed in August 1976, and a 418-square 

 meter (4,500 square feet) laboratory and office building (Fig. 3) completed in 

 March 1980. The FRF is designed to fulfill four major objectives: 



(a) To provide a rigid platform from the land, across the dunes, 

 beach, and surf zone out to the 6-meter (20 feet) water depth from 

 which waves, currents, water levels, and bottom elevations can be 

 measured, especially during severe storms; 



(b) to serve as a permanent field base of operations for physi- 

 cal and biological studies of the site, the adjacent sound, bay, and 

 ocean region by CERC, other Federal agencies, universities, and 

 private industry; 



(c) to provide CERC with field experience and data that will 

 complement laboratory and analytical studies and provide a better 

 understanding of the influence of field conditions on measurements 

 and design practices; and 



(d) to provide a manned field facility for testing new 

 instrumentation. 



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