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HYDRODYNAMIC & SEDIMENT DISPERSION MODELING

RPS has extensive experience assessing the impacts of sediment-disturbing construction activities in both freshwater and marine environments including those from subsea cable installation, pile driving, and dredging activities. RPS uses numerical models to simulate both the hydrodynamics in the study area and the transport, fate, and effects of material suspended during construction. Modeling is performed with in-house models developed by RPS or third-party models depending on the project requirements. Our extensive experience with model development makes us uniquely qualified to tailor model applications to suit our clients’ needs. RPS has supported numerous studies with modeling, simulating a variety of construction activities including pipeline and cable burial, dredging, backfilling and disposal, hopper overflow, land reclamation, and pile driving.

Image (2) — Model predicted instantaneous snapshot of bottom currents during an ebb tide.

Hydrodynamic Modeling

RPS has a long history in hydrodynamic model development and application for a wide range of study areas spanning estuarine, coastal, and offshore regions. RPS has multiple in-house circulation models with integrated gridding utilities including HYDROMAP and WQMAP, as well as a wealth of experience using many third-party hydrodynamic models and modeling suites (e.g., EFDC, ROMS, FVCOM, ADCIRC, and Delft3D). Our modelers use these tools effectively, leveraging their expertise to simulate the environmental processes that are key to resolving bed shear stresses and transport forcing that governs the fate of suspended sediment resulting from dredging activities, such as tidal, wind, density gradient, and wave driven currents.

Maxtss Website — Maximum Total Suspended Sediment (TSS) Concentration predicted by SSFATE for cable installation.

Sediment Transport & Dispersion Modeling

RPS’ in-house model SSFATE (Suspended Sediment Fate) is used to simulate the transport, dispersion, settling, and re-suspension of sediment released to the water column by dredging operations. SSFATE was jointly developed with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer (USACE) Environmental Research and Development Center (ERDC) and has been used in numerous assessments accepted by state, federal, and international regulatory agencies. Model applications include a specification of the environmental conditions, including shoreline, bathymetry, and hydrodynamics, as well as the sediment loading from construction activities. The model allows flexibility in specification of the sediment loading and can reflect spatially varied sediment characteristics, trenching dimensions, and operational parameters within a single scenario. Modeling assessments are used to characterize the sediment plume (e.g., concentration and extent) and seabed deposition (e.g., thickness and extent) from sediments resuspended during construction, and can also be used to assess the concentration, transport, and fate of contaminants associated with the resuspended sediments (e.g., metals). Duration of exposure to elevated concentrations can also be quantified to inform potential effects to aquatic organisms using SSDOSE, RPS’s in-house exposure model.

Both SSFATE and SSDOSE exist within DREDEMAP, a framework of sediment-related models from RPS’ in-house modeling software suite that integrates advanced GIS, data processing, and model output analysis tools. RPS has experience using other sediment dispersion models (e.g., Delft3D, SMS-PTM) to accommodate client preferences, but SSFATE model applications and tools can also be customized to fit a variety of project needs within this framework. Modeling assessments are often performed for inclusion in permit application materials (e.g., construction and operations plans [COP], environmental impact assessments [EIA]), and have been used to inform construction monitoring and sampling plans.