Beach nourishment project response and design evaluation : Ocean City Maryland. Report 1, 1988-1992

Abstract : Detailed monitoring of the performance of a two-phase beach nourishment project has provided valuable information on beach fill behavior and long-term response of a beach fill to prevailing coastal processes. The Atlantic Coast of Maryland (Ocean City) Shoreline Protection Project began with placement of a recreational beach by the State of Maryland during the summer of 1988. Within three months of placement, four storms impacted the area. Recovery was monitored for an additional two years. In the summers of 1990 and 1991, additional fill material including a storm protection dune was placed by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers as a second phase for the purpose of storm protection. Within a year of the first placement, two large storms impacted the project. Initial recovery was also documented. Project monitoring included 12 profile survey lines, sediment collection, and placement of two dedicated wave gauges. The beach nourishment project performed well in protecting the beachfront infrastructure of Ocean City from storm damage. The fill material was eroded from the foreshore after the major storms of 1989 and 1991/92, but could be accounted for in the nearshore between the shoreline and closure. Representative profile survey locations show the differential behavior of the fill controlled by nearshore bathymetric variability along the project length. The 37th Street location represents the flatter, bar/trough type profile typical of the southern portion of the fill. Localized 'hot spots' of erosion occurred in areas where a shoal system attaches to the shoreface, as shown at 81st Street. The erosion pattern associated with these shoals was probably produced by wave convergence and divergence over these features.