Coastal Texas Region 1 (CTR1) Estuarine Numerical Modeling Report
Abstract
The Houston Ship Channel is one of the busiest deep-draft navigation channels in the United States and must be able to accommodate vessels even in the event of providing storm surge protection. The U.S. Army Engineer District, Galveston, requested the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory, to perform hydrodynamic and salinity modeling of proposed storm surge protection measures at the Houston Ship Channel entrance to the Gulf of Mexico. The modeling results are necessary to provide data for environmental analysis. The model setup and validation are presented as well as the results of project year zero (2035) and project year 50 (2085) with and without project results. Overall, the protection measures had little effect on bay salinity and velocity patterns, but it does generate significant local changes in velocity patterns near the structure location. The structure also greatly impacts the tidal prism--the exchange of water into and out of the bay system on each tide--as well as the tidal amplitudes within the bays.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 2019
- Accession Number
- AD1081396
Entities
People
- Cassandra Ross
- Jared Mcknight
- Jennifer Mcalphin
Organizations
- Engineer Research and Development Center