Navigation waterways

 Channel improvement for navigation is justified on the basis of savings in

commercial shipping costs.
 The reduced cost of moving commodities by means of waterways instead of other
modes of transportation is compared with the costs of construction, operation, and
maintenance.

Navigation requirements
 General requirements for channel depth, channel width, and lock dimensions for
commercial navigation are governed by a number of factors, including type and
volume of probable future tonnage, types and sizes of vessels, and tows in general
use on connecting waterways.
 Three barge types are common: (1) open-hopper barges for transporting coal, sand
and gravel, and sulfur; (2) covered-hopper barges for grain and mixed cargo; and (3)
tank barges for petroleum and chemicals (figure below).
 Barge sizes vary around a standard 35 ft (10.7 m) in width and
195 ft (60 m) in length.
 Pilots navigate towboats at the stern of the tow with control of the engine
thrust and direction of the rudder.
 The navigation width depends on channel alignment, size of tow, and whether one-
way or two-way traffic is planned. One-way traffic may be adequate when the
traffic is light if the reach is relatively straight with good visibility and if passing
lanes are provided. Two-way traffic permits heavy traffic to move faster except
when tows are meeting or passing. Figure below shows the recommended channel
widths for commercial navigation in straight channels.
Dredging
Dredging is the process of removing material from the bed or the banks of a waterway for
the purpose of deepening or widening navigation channels or to obtain fill material for land
development. Dredging is a very costly operation that requires heavy equipment and long
pipelines. Dredging equipment can be classified as either mechanical or hydraulic.
Mechanical dredges lift the dredged material by means of diggers or buckets. Hydraulic
dredges pick up the dredged material by means of suction pipes and pumps. Mechanical
dredges remove bed material by a dipper or bucket, and the excavated material is dumped
into disposal barges for unloading at the disposal site. Mechanical dredges are usually not
self-propelled and must be towed to the work site.

Purposes of dredging

 To maintain the depth in existing ports, harbours and channels to

provide ready and safe passage for commercial and recreational
vessels.
 To create new or deeper access or berths for vessels. This may mean
the deepening and widening of channels and anchorages as well as
the excavation of basins and marinas from areas of previously dry
land.
 To provide material for specific purposes, eg. Beaches in coastal areas
subject to erosion are sometimes ‘renourished’ with sand dredged from
other areas.
 To bypass an artificial structure , such as a breakwater, that is an
obstacle to the normal pattern of sediment movement along the coast.
 Dredging prevents a build up of material to be deposited down stream
of the obstacle to allow the natural sediment transport process to occur.
 To place a structure inside water bodies

Dredging procedure:
Dredging procedure can be classified as: Pretreatment, Extraction and Disposal

Pretreatment:
Pretreatment means treatment of the ground before the dredging operations.
It usually consists of a separate operation carried out independently of other dredging.
There are two basic methods of pretreatment: chemical and mechanical and both are
applied to rock or cemented soil.

Extraction:
The extraction process involves the movement of the spoil from its natural pretreated
position into vertical transportation and its delivery to the transport system.
Extraction processes are often a combination of at least two operations: the primary
operation which disintegrates or dislodges the soil and the secondary operation which
moves it.
The first of these operations is performed either mechanically or hydraulically.

Disposal:
Disposal facilities are consist of bottom discharge, grab, scrapers, pipelines, land based unit,
natural processes.

TYPES OF DREDGING:
Dredging can be classified as:
1. Mechanical Dredging
2. Hydraulic Dredging

Mechanical Dredging:
 Mechanical dredging involves removal of material by a bucket, placement of the
material in a scow or on a barge, and towing that scow or barge to a disposal or
transfer area.
 If a scow is used with open water disposal, the doors would open at the disposal site,
releasing the material to fall through the water column to the bottom.
 If a scow or barge is used with any other type of disposal, it would be towed to the
disposal or transfer site where another bucket machine would remove the material
from the scow or barge and transfer it onto a vehicle or directly into a near shore
disposal are

Figure: Aerial view of Mechanical Dredging

 Fig: Dredged materials being pulled out Fig: Dredged materials are being stored on a barge

Fig: Dredged materials being transported to disposal area Fig: Dredged materials being disposed

Hydraulic Dredging:
 Hydraulic pipeline dredging involves use of a hydraulic (suction) dredge, most
commonly for either beach nourishment of suitable sands, or deposit into an upland
containment area (for dewatering or direct disposal).
 Hydraulic dredging provides the cleanest and least obtrusive method for sediment
removal without damaging the sensitive environment.
 Typically the dredge uses a cutter head on the end of the suction arm to loosen the
material while the dredge pump suctions the loosened material through the arm to
the pump in a slurry of about 75 to 90 percent water and 10 to 25 percent sediment.
 The slurry is pumped through a pipeline to a disposal site or dewatering/transfer
area.
 A hydraulic dredge floats on the water and excavates and pumps the material
through a temporary pipeline to an offsite location, often several thousand feet away.
 This dredge acts like a floating vacuum cleaner that can remove sediment very
precisely.
 Fig: hydraulic dredging

Fig: Dredge is dropped into the water using a crane

Fig: Aerial view of barge with hydraulic dredging equipment removing ash from the
navigation channel

Fig: Ash and water are pumped though this pipeline Fig: Relay pump in the middle of the pipeline

Fig: Ash and water discharge into holding area. Sediment can then be de-watered and either replanted or
trucked off location.
Fig: Ash and water discharge into holding area. Sediment can then be de-watered and either replanted or
trucked off location

Types of Dredgers
According To Dredging Types Dredgers Are Divided Mainly Into Two Kinds:
1. Mechanical Dredgers
2. Hydraulic Dredgers

 In the Mechanical Dredgers material is conveyed by mechanical contravenes,

whereas, in the Hydraulic Dredgers, it is conveyed by water through pipes.
 They are further classified under various principal types, depending on their mode
of operation.

Mechanical Dredgers
(i) Bucket or Grab Dredger:
 It is essentially a stiff-leg derrick on a floating platform.
 By means of a derrick arrangement it lowers an open grab bucket onto the
material, fills it there and lifts it.
 The material is either deposited alongside the channel, or dumped in barges or in
hoppers provided on the dredger.
 Mechanical dredgers work best in consolidated or hard packed materials and can
be used to clear rocks and debris.
 The advantage of the bucket dredger lies in its ability to work in small areas
inaccessible to other types of dredgers.
 It is efficient in homogeneous materials, particularly in stiff mud.
  The digging power of the bucket depends on its weight and its effect is
diminished by the lifting tendency of the closing wire.
 It does not have sufficient penetration power to obtain a full load in harder
material, compacted sand, gravel and clay.
 Sometimes, the bucket spins twisting the opening and closing wires; the
operation is stopped till they are straightened out, resulting in much loss of time.

(ii) Dipper dredger:

 The dredger consists of a floating power shovel, and except for the digging
equipment, it is same a bucket dredger.
 It should be used only if the material is resistant such as soft rock, boulders’
material consisting of timber etc.
 Its unit cost of dredging is higher than for other dredgers.

Fig: Mechanical Dredgers

(iii) Ladder dredger:

 This consists of buckets attached at each end of the frame.
 It is suitable to excavate cohesive materials.
 These dredgers are used even with self-contained hoppers. When hoppers are not
provided, scows (flat-bottom boats) are required to dispose of dredged materials.
 In river and harbors works, this dredger is suitable for digging stiff, hard and non-
homogeneous materials; loose sand and soft mud tend to wash out of the buckets
reducing its efficiency for these materials.
 This dredger is extensively used in Europe and in the Suez Canal.
(iv)Hopper Dredger:
 A self-contained and self-propelled hopper dredger is provided with either a bucket
or a dipper.
 But its drawback is that a self-contained hopper arrangement generally makes the
draft excessive and it cannot be used for shallow dredging.
 With this dredger, however, material can either be dumped alongside the channel to
be dredged, or in any place where it is required or where it can be carried away by
the stream.

Fig: Mechanical Dredgers

(v) Rock Dredger:

 Formerly, when rock had to be removed, the materials was broken by blasting, and
removed by bucket dredgers.
 Of late, where rook is soft, it is removed by means of strong steel claws; where it is
hard, it is broken up by the use of heavy rams.
 The rock outers have the form of heavy chisel pointed rams, which after being
raised, are allowed to drop 3 to 6 m. (10 to 20 ft.) on the rock.
 With rams of sufficient weight, hardest rocks can be broken up. The debris is
removed by grab.
HYDRAULIC DREDGERS
(i)Plain Suction Dredger:

 This is the simplest hydraulic floating dredger with a centrifugal pump and auxiliary
equipment mounted in the hull.
 The size and type of the hull depends on the size of the pump used and the amount
of power needed to operate the equipment.
 The size of the dredger is generally described by the diameter of the discharge pipe,
which ranges from 15.2 to 76.2cm (6 to 30inch).
(ii) Cutter Head Dredger:
 It is similar to the suction dredger, except that it has a rotary cutter head which
carves clay, breaks off chunks of softer rocks such as coral and shale, and stirs up
gravel and sand so that pipe carries material to its capacity.
 This dredger is being suitable for channel work, cut-offs, new construction, harbor
excavation and making fills.
(iii) Dust-pan Hydraulic Dredger:
 These dredgers are similar to the cutter head pipe line dredge except that in the
former horizontally spread suction heads, similar to a dust-pan or a vacuum cleaner
nozzle, are employed.
 Instead of a rotary cutter, high velocity water jets are mounted in the suction head to
loosen the material.
 The suction head may be as wide as 9.7 m. (32ft.) and is provided with nozzles,
through which water is pumped at 1.8 kg. /sq. cm. (25 1b./sq. in. ) to agitate the
material so that it can be more easily picked up.
 This dredger is commonly used on the Mississippi River for the maintenance of
navigation channels.
(iv) Hopper Dredger Hydraulic Type:
 It is equipped to operate as an anchorless hydraulic dredger for transporting and
dumping the excavated material without the assistance of auxiliary plant such as
tugs, barges, etc.
 This dredger is capable of operating in rough water where pipe line dredgers are
unsatisfactory because of the breaking of the pipe line.
 It is particularly suitable in busy and crowded harbors, whereas pipe line dredgers,
with their long anchor cables and pipe lines, occupy much space and are slow,
impeding harbor traffic.
 The principal elements of the hopper dredger are the pump, the drag hoist and
hopper bins.
IMPACTS OF DREDGING
Dredging activities have the potential to change the environment.
At the sites of dredging and disposal the seabed and associated communities are
disturbed and for some distance, suspended sediment may cause turbidity in water and
increased sedimentation on the bottom.
Depending upon the nature of the dredged material, its disturbance from the sea bed may
lead to changes in the chemical composition of the water.
As well as toxicants, the nutrient elements, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus, which
control the rate of marine plant growth, can also be released from sediments during
dredging, with a risk of triggering algal blooms.
Another biological risk from dredging involves the transport of species in dredgers from
one port (or even country) to another.
MORPHOLOGICAL AND HYDRAULIC RESPONSE DUE TO DREDGING
 Dredging affects the morphological and hydraulic behavior of a channel section.
 Due to initial deepening or capital dredging of a channel, the river bed is degraded
until the balance between the sediment load supplied to the river reach and the
sediment transport capacity of the flow is restored.
 In the long term the result will be degradation to a more gentler slope and a greater
depth downstream of the point of dredging.
 Degradation will also occur in upstream which leads to lowering of river bed with
initial slope.

Dredging in Bangladesh
 Two types of dredging are conducted in Bangladesh:
 Capital Dredging (Example: Gorai River Project by BWDB)
 Maintenance Dredging (Example: Paturia and Daulatdia Ferry Ghats by
BIWTA)
Fig: aerial view of the cutter suction dredger at work in Gorai river project

Fig: aerial view of the cutter suction dredger at work in Gorai river project