U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Bay Model
Encyclopedia
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Bay Model is a working hydraulic scale model
of the San Francisco Bay
and Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta System. While the Bay Model is still operational, it is no longer used for scientific research, and is instead open to the public alongside educational exhibits about Bay hydrology. The Bay Model is located at in the Bay Model Visitor Center at 2100 Bridgeway Blvd. in Sausalito, California
.
slabs joined together like a jigsaw puzzle
. Features that affect the water flow of the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta are reproduced, including ship channel
s, river
s, creek
s, slough
s, the canal
s in the Delta, fill
s, major wharf
s, pier
s, slip
s, dike
s, bridge
s, and breakwater
s.
The limits of the model encompass the Pacific Ocean
extending 17 miles beyond the Golden Gate
, San Francisco Bay
, San Pablo Bay
, Suisun Bay
and all of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to Verona
, 17 miles north of Sacramento
on the north, and to Vernalis
, 32 miles south of Stockton
on the San Joaquin River
on the south.
The Model is distorted by a factor of ten between the horizontal and vertical scales. The distortion is designed into the Model to insure a proper hydraulic flow over the tidal flats and shallows. The distortion does increase the hydraulic efficiency of the flows. These increased efficiencies are corrected by the use of copper strips throughout the Model. The exact number of copper strips is adjusted during the calibration of the Model.
Scale model
A scale model is a physical model, a representation or copy of an object that is larger or smaller than the actual size of the object, which seeks to maintain the relative proportions of the physical size of the original object. Very often the scale model is used as a guide to making the object in...
of the San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean...
and Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta System. While the Bay Model is still operational, it is no longer used for scientific research, and is instead open to the public alongside educational exhibits about Bay hydrology. The Bay Model is located at in the Bay Model Visitor Center at 2100 Bridgeway Blvd. in Sausalito, California
Sausalito, California
Sausalito is a San Francisco Bay Area city, in Marin County, California, United States. Sausalito is south-southeast of San Rafael, at an elevation of 13 feet . The population was 7,061 as of the 2010 census. The community is situated near the northern end of the Golden Gate Bridge, and prior to...
.
History
The Bay Model was constructed in 1956-57 as part of the comprehensive survey of the bay as authorized by Section 110 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1950. The Delta portion was added to the Model in 1966-69 to provide information for studies concerning impacts of the deepening of navigation channels, realignment of Delta channels and various flow arrangements on water quality.Size and Scope
The model is approximately 320 feet long in the north-south direction and about 400 feet long in the east-west direction. It is constructed out of 286 five-ton concreteConcrete
Concrete is a composite construction material, composed of cement and other cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag cement, aggregate , water and chemical admixtures.The word concrete comes from the Latin word...
slabs joined together like a jigsaw puzzle
Jigsaw puzzle
A jigsaw puzzle is a tiling puzzle that requires the assembly of numerous small, often oddly shaped, interlocking and tessellating pieces.Each piece usually has a small part of a picture on it; when complete, a jigsaw puzzle produces a complete picture...
. Features that affect the water flow of the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta are reproduced, including ship channel
Ship channel
A ship channel can be an artificial or dredged waterway for moving ship traffic. A ship channel can also be a channel formed through surface ice by a ship.Several waterways are referred to as the Ship Channel* Houston Ship Channel...
s, river
River
A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...
s, creek
Stream
A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, "crick", gill , kill, lick, rill, river, syke, bayou, rivulet, streamage, wash, run or...
s, slough
Slough
Slough is a borough and unitary authority within the ceremonial county of Royal Berkshire, England. The town straddles the A4 Bath Road and the Great Western Main Line, west of central London...
s, the canal
Canal
Canals are man-made channels for water. There are two types of canal:#Waterways: navigable transportation canals used for carrying ships and boats shipping goods and conveying people, further subdivided into two kinds:...
s in the Delta, fill
Cut and fill
In earthmoving, cut and fill is the process of constructing a railway, road or canal whereby the amount of material from cuts roughly matches the amount of fill needed to make nearby embankments, so minimizing the amount of construction labor...
s, major wharf
Wharf
A wharf or quay is a structure on the shore of a harbor where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers.Such a structure includes one or more berths , and may also include piers, warehouses, or other facilities necessary for handling the ships.A wharf commonly comprises a fixed...
s, pier
Pier
A pier is a raised structure, including bridge and building supports and walkways, over water, typically supported by widely spread piles or pillars...
s, slip
Slipway
A slipway, boat slip or just a slip, is a ramp on the shore by which ships or boats can be moved to and from the water. They are used for building and repairing ships and boats. They are also used for launching and retrieving small boats on trailers and flying boats on their undercarriage. The...
s, dike
Levee
A levee, levée, dike , embankment, floodbank or stopbank is an elongated naturally occurring ridge or artificially constructed fill or wall, which regulates water levels...
s, bridge
Bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle...
s, and breakwater
Breakwater (structure)
Breakwaters are structures constructed on coasts as part of coastal defence or to protect an anchorage from the effects of weather and longshore drift.-Purposes of breakwaters:...
s.
The limits of the model encompass the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
extending 17 miles beyond the Golden Gate
Golden Gate
The Golden Gate is the North American strait connecting San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean. Since 1937 it has been spanned by the Golden Gate Bridge...
, San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean...
, San Pablo Bay
San Pablo Bay
San Pablo Bay is a tidal estuary that forms the northern extension of San Francisco Bay in northern California in the United States. Most of the Bay is shallow; however, there is a deep water channel approximately in mid bay, which allows access to Sacramento, Stockton, Benicia, Martinez, and...
, Suisun Bay
Suisun Bay
Suisun Bay is a shallow tidal estuary at in northern California, USA. It lies at the confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, forming the entrance to the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, an inverted river delta...
and all of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to Verona
Verona, California
Verona is an unincorporated community in Alameda County, California. It is located on the Western Pacific and the Southern Pacific Railroads north of Sunol, at an elevation of 315 feet ....
, 17 miles north of Sacramento
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
on the north, and to Vernalis
Vernalis, California
Vernalis is an unincorporated community in San Joaquin County, California, United States. Vernalis is located on California State Route 33 southeast of Tracy. Vernalis has a post office with ZIP code 95385...
, 32 miles south of Stockton
Stockton, California
Stockton, California, the seat of San Joaquin County, is the fourth-largest city in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. With a population of 291,707 at the 2010 census, Stockton ranks as this state's 13th largest city...
on the San Joaquin River
San Joaquin River
The San Joaquin River is the largest river of Central California in the United States. At over long, the river starts in the high Sierra Nevada, and flows through a rich agricultural region known as the San Joaquin Valley before reaching Suisun Bay, San Francisco Bay, and the Pacific Ocean...
on the south.
Scale
The scale of the model is 1:1000 on the horizontal axes and 1:100 on the vertical axis. The model operates at a time scale of 1:100.The Model is distorted by a factor of ten between the horizontal and vertical scales. The distortion is designed into the Model to insure a proper hydraulic flow over the tidal flats and shallows. The distortion does increase the hydraulic efficiency of the flows. These increased efficiencies are corrected by the use of copper strips throughout the Model. The exact number of copper strips is adjusted during the calibration of the Model.