Even in the age of supercomputing, engineers still demand tangible models to fully understand the complex interaction between coastal infrastructure and dynamic ocean forces.

ERDC has nearly a century of expertise in building scaled representations of real-world systems and testing them to evaluate civil works and military project designs.

We discuss ERDC’s coastal physical modeling capabilities with Dr. Duncan Bryant, a senior research hydraulic engineer with ERDC’s Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory.

Topics include the need for physical modeling and its role alongside other coastal engineering tools (4:05), how ERDC improves Joint Force readiness by testing ship-to-shore logistics (8:24) and how models help engineers design better coastal defenses for improved resilience (12:00). We also discuss how ERDC’s facilities (16:20), capabilities (23:26) and master craftsmen (21:28) enable this work; how it is collaborating with industry and academia (26:50); and how ERDC is working to solve tomorrow’s coastal challenges (28:25).

Watch a video of this podcast on our website at www.PowerofERDCPodcast.org/49-coastal-physical-modeling_video. You can also see additional resources at www.PowerofERDCPodcast.org/49-coastal-physical-modeling_resources.

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