CAREER: Improving the Understanding of Coastal Erosion during Extreme Events and with Sea Level Rise through Geotechnical Investigation

该教师早期职业发展计划（CAREER）赠款将支持研究，这将有助于新的知识海岸侵蚀的基本机制，特别是关于极端事件和海平面上升。 海岸侵蚀和土地流失正在威胁美国海岸线和沿海社区的许多部分。 极端事件，如飓风引发的风暴潮和巨浪，以及海平面上升，正在加速海岸侵蚀。 在过去的几十年里，海岸侵蚀的预测和评估有了很大的进展。 然而，在受影响的沿海土壤的特性和力学方面存在着重大的知识差距。 该奖项支持基础研究，以促进对海岸带波浪，水流，潮汐和相关形态动力学的土壤行为的理解。 这方面的知识将有助于改进对海岸侵蚀的预测、评估和减轻，并有助于沿海基础设施的稳定。 该奖项涉及多个学科，包括岩土工程，海岸科学和工程，地球物理学和海洋学。 多学科的方法将具有现场和实验室实验。 该教育计划包括为大一本科生提供实地研究经验，重点是来自低收入背景的学生。 它还包括一个成人教育方案，教育公众了解与海平面上升、沿海淹没和侵蚀有关的沿海基础设施的风险。 该教育计划将有助于培养新一代海岸和岩土工程师，扩大代表性不足的群体在土木工程中的参与，提高公众对海平面上升、海岸淹没和侵蚀相关风险的认识，并与NSF INCLUDES保持一致，岩土土壤行为对海岸侵蚀过程的作用仍未完全理解主要是由于缺乏受高能流体动力学和地貌动力学影响的沿海地区的岩土工程数据。 本研究是为了填补这一知识空白：1）测量海岸和近岸沉积物的沉积物强度和孔隙压力下的水动力强迫和形态动力学，2）测试一个新的公式的希尔兹参数整合的剪切强度和孔隙压力，和3）调查的影响，在沿海地区的岩土参数的变化在洪水和洪水事件的可蚀性。 研究目标将通过多学科的现场和实验室测试计划来实现，从而能够同时观察岩土参数，形态动力学和流体动力学。 所获得的知识将有助于提高对土壤力学和水下沉积物输运过程之间相互作用的理解，以及改进目前的海岸侵蚀预测方法。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

This Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) grant will support research that will contribute new knowledge to the underlying mechanisms of coastal erosion, particularly with regard to extreme events and sea level rise. Coastal erosion and land loss is threatening many sections of the U.S. coastlines and coastal communities. Extreme events such as hurricanes driving storm waves and surges, as well as sea level rise are accelerating coastal erosion. The prediction and assessment of coastal erosion has advanced significantly over the last decades. However, significant knowledge gaps exist with regard to the characterization and mechanics of impacted coastal soils. This award supports fundamental research to advance the understanding of soil behavior in response to waves, currents, tides, and associated morphodynamics in the coastal zone. This knowledge will contribute to the improvement of the prediction, assessment and mitigation of coastal erosion and stability of coastal infrastructure. The award involves several disciplines including geotechnical engineering, coastal sciences and engineering, geophysics, and oceanography. The multi-disciplinary approach will feature field and laboratory experiments. The education plan includes a field research experience for freshman undergraduates with an emphasis on students from low-income backgrounds. It also includes an adult education program to educate the public about risks to coastal infrastructure associated with sea level rise, coastal inundation and erosion. The education plan will help to train a new generation of coastal and geotechnical engineers, broaden the participation of underrepresented groups in civil engineering, and raise public awareness for risks associated to sea level rise, coastal inundation and erosion, and is aligned with NSF INCLUDES.The role of geotechnical soil behavior for coastal erosion processes is still not fully understood, mostly resulting from a lack of geotechnical data in coastal areas affected by energetic hydrodynamics and morphodynamics. This research is to fill this knowledge gap by: 1) measuring sediment strength and pore pressure of coastal and nearshore sediments under hydrodynamic forcing and morphodynamics, 2) testing a new formulation of the Shields parameter integrating shear strength and pore pressure, and 3) investigating the impact of variations of geotechnical soil parameters in coastal areas on erodibility during inundation and flood events. The research objectives will be achieved through multi-disciplinary field and laboratory testing programs, enabling simultaneous observations of geotechnical parameters, morphodynamics, and hydrodynamics. The knowledge gained will contribute to improving the understanding of the interaction between soil mechanics and subaqueous sediment transport processes, as well as to the improvement of current prediction methods for coastal erosion.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.