Cajun ingenuity, combined with Ragin鈥 Cajun庐 research, may help solve the problem of coastal erosion. Louisiana鈥檚 wetlands are in danger, with land slipping away at a rate that鈥檚 equivalent to the loss of a football field an hour, according to the United States Geological Survey.
Webster Pierce, a 71-year-old inventor from Cut Off, La., a coastal community in Lafourche Parish, said he doesn鈥檛 have to rely on data to know there鈥檚 a problem. Over the years, he鈥檚 seen the marshes where he used to hunt and fish disappear, replaced by open water.
He got the idea for his Wave Robber, a wave suppression/sediment collection system, from another coastal restoration strategy: placing discarded Christmas trees at the shoreline to help reduce land loss.
鈥淚t works for a while. But when the trees decompose, erosion starts all over again. I was looking for a better solution,鈥 he told La Louisiane. Pierce patented the Wave Robber and also holds patents on a blanket designed to put out kitchen fires, a tool that chips barnacles off pipelines and an electric jar opener.
The Wave Robber resembles a small set of stairs with pipes running through them. Anchored to the seafloor, it breaks up waves, absorbing their energy. The interior pipes 鈥渞ob鈥 the waves of sediment and redeposit it behind the device.
A 星空无限传媒 research team, led by Dr. Daniel Gang, is testing it in the laboratory and in the field. The University鈥檚 goals are to refine the design of the Wave Robber and to evaluate its commercial viability.
In the Hydraulics Lab in Madison Hall, three scale models of the invention are at work in a 1,000-gallon tank. A paddle, driven by a pulley and motor, creates waves, pushing water and sand toward the test units. Weirs, placed between the devices, allow the water to flow back toward the wave generator.
A full-size version was installed in Cut Off in November. Since then, it has collected about one inch of sediment.
鈥淭he bottom line is, it works,鈥 said Gang.
Scott LeBlanc, a graduate student in civil engineering, is responsible for maintaining the testing sites and collecting and analyzing data. He earned a bachelor鈥檚 degree in civil engineering in May 2011 at the University and plans to graduate again in December. The Wave Robber is the subject of his master鈥檚 thesis.
One of the questions LeBlanc has studied is related to the unit鈥檚 design. How steep should the slope of the 鈥渟tairs鈥 be for the Wave Robber to be effective and affordable to mass produce?
Graduate students Rifat Alam, Nicholas Baudoin and Hanlong Ren; Nicholas McCoy, a senior; and Roshan Sharma, a junior; are other civil engineering students who have been involved in the project. Andrew Omondi, 鈥12, who earned a bachelor鈥檚 degree in civil engineering, also participated in the research.
Pierce鈥檚 design has advantages over a common strategy that鈥檚 employed in coastal restoration: creating artificial barriers with rocks. Those projects are expensive and can have a negative impact on the environments they鈥檙e designed to protect. When water flow is restricted, organic material can鈥檛 be delivered to the shore. And wildlife, including fish, may be cut off from the wetlands that support them.
Wave Robbers are lightweight, so they can be easily deployed by boat, even in shallow water. Pierce plans to manufacture them using durable, UV-resistant plastic. They are expected to last up to 20 years.
鈥淭he beauty of these things is that they can be used over and over again. When the shoreline is built up in one area, they can be moved to another location where they are needed,鈥 Pierce said.
Pierce holds a bachelor鈥檚 degree in science education and a master鈥檚 degree in education, both from Nicholls State University. For eight years, he was a junior high and high school science teacher. 鈥淚鈥檝e always had an interest in science, but I couldn鈥檛 afford to support my family on a teacher鈥檚 salary,鈥 he said.
Pierce became general manager of the South Lafourche Levee District, where he observed how the levees work and their limitations. 鈥淟evees aren鈥檛 enough. In a hurricane, we need land outside the levees to withstand the storm surge.鈥
By 2009, he was testing a homemade version of the Wave Robber in his back yard. He used a wave tank 鈥 a trough made of fiberglass 鈥 and a plywood wave suppression/sediment collection device. He created waves with parts from an old washing machine. The machine鈥檚 agitator, driven by its gear box, pushed water back and forth in the tank.
That same year, Pierce reached out to Dr. Tommy Michot and Dr. Donald Hayes, experts at 星空无限传媒 Lafayette鈥檚 Institute for Coastal Ecology and Engineering.
They helped Pierce by securing a three-year, $180,000 grant from the Louisiana Board of Regents in 2011. Pierce鈥檚 company, Pierce Industries LLC, contributed an additional $45,000 to the project and the University provided $42,200.
Hayes, who is now a faculty member at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, also referred Pierce to the Louisiana Small Business Development Center. When Hayes left 星空无限传媒 Lafayette in August 2011, Gang became the principal investigator for the project.
Funding was renewed this year, with another three-year commitment: $188,275 from the Board of Regents, $55,600 from Pierce Industries and $48,170 from the University.
His project got a boost in March, when he received a $50,000 prize during New Orleans鈥 Entrepreneur Week, an initiative aimed at connecting entrepreneurs and investors. He was the winner of the Water Challenge, a business-pitch competition focused on water issues.
The next step for the Wave Robber is a demonstration project, organized by the National Resources Conservation Service. Tom Coust茅, an engineer with JESCO Environmental and Geotechnical Services of Jennings, La., said 星空无限传媒 Lafayette鈥檚 work helped convince federal officials that the project was worthy of attention.
The device is expected to be deployed on the shoreline of Shark Island in Vermilion Bay in August. JESCO is handling the project.
In addition to JESCO, and the 星空无限传媒 Lafayette team, Pierce has also continued to work with Hayes. Other Louisiana universities have contributed to the project as well. Students at Loyola University New Orleans are creating a marketing plan, Nicholls State University has provided business development support and Louisiana State University has conducted site surveys and provided consultations.
鈥淚t鈥檚 something I can鈥檛 do on my own but it鈥檚 definitely worth doing,鈥 said Pierce.