Storm damage is a constant threat to Florida’s coastline, but identifying the costs and benefits of storm damage reduction projects remained a challenge. Researchers at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory (CHL) and the U.S. Army Engineer Institute for Water Resources (IWR) assessed 27 miles of Florida’s shoreline to create and refine Beach-fx, an innovative modeling tool and analytical framework for looking at the physical performance of the coast and the economic benefits and costs of shore protection projects that guard against erosion, inundation, and wave attack damages. Using a winning combination of meteorology, coastal engineering, and economic evaluations, Beach-fx links coastal evolution models with local infrastructure information and then ties that to economic valuations for an event-based Monte Carlo life-cycle simulation. With beta and real-world testing of the technology, Beach-fx shows the risks and rewards of coastal projects.
Gamechanger added in 2016.
