Date of Award

5-2010

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

M.S.

Degree Program

Engineering

Department

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Major Professor

McCorquodale, J. Alex

Second Advisor

Barbe, Donald

Third Advisor

Cothren, Gianna

Abstract

Alterations along the Mississippi River, such as dams and levees, have greatly reduced the amount of freshwater and sediment that reaches the Louisiana coastal area. Several freshwater and sediment diversions have been proposed to combat the associated land loss problem. To aid in this restoration effort a 1-D numerical model was calibrated, validated, and used to predict the response of the river to certain stimuli, such as proposed diversions, channel closures, channel modifications, and relative sea level rise. This study utilized HEC-RAS 4.0, a 1-D mobile-bed numerical model, which was calibrated using a discharge hydrograph at Tarbert Landing and a stage hydrograph at the Gulf of Mexico, to calculate the hydrodynamics of the river. The model showed that RSLR will decrease the capacity of the Lower Mississippi River to carry bed material. The stage at Carrollton Gage is not significantly impacted by large scale diversions

Rights

The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this dissertation or thesis in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation.

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