USCG Buffalo Sector Boat Basin Wave Study: Optimization of Wave Attenuators Using FUN-WAVE Numerical Modeling

The US Coast Guard, Civil Engineering Unit Cleveland (USCG) and the US Army Corps of Engineers, Buffalo District (USACE-LRB) have partnered to investigate the existing wave conditions and optimize structural solutions to attenuate waves at the USCG Sector Buffalo, New York, boat basin. To better understand the wave conditions in the USCG Buffalo boat basin, three wave gages were deployed by USACE Engineering Research and Development Center (ERDC) from November–December 2020. The wave gage data was used to calibrate a numerical 2-D wave model, FUNWAVE-TVD. FUNWAVE-TVD is the total variation diminishing (TVD) version of the fully nonlinear Boussinesq wave model (FUNWAVE). Gage results indicated the occurrence of harbor resonance and significant wave reflection within the boat basin. Slotted vertical wall structures offset from the existing basin walls were proposed by USACE due to the space limitations within the boat basin. Results of the study will provide a tentatively selected wave attenuation structural alternative, to be constructed in a future USCG project.