Author(s): Jennifer Tate; Charlie Berger; Robert Mc Adory
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Abstract: The Houston-Galveston Ship Channel began to experience higher than anticipated rates of shoaling after its enlargement in the late 1990's from a 40-ft (12.2-m) depth by 400-ft (121.9-m) width to a 45-ft (13.7-m) depth by 530-ft (161.5-m) width channel. This increased deposition, primarily along Atkinson Island, may simply be a short-term feature that will fade once the new channel reaches equilibrium or it may be a permanent feature that will continue to require increased dredging in order to maintain a navigable waterway. The US Army Engineer District, Galveston, tasked the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory (CHL) to develop a validated sediment model of the region to be used as a tool to determine why this increased shoaling has occurred and what can be done to prevent it. The study included the collection and analysis of field data, analysis of hydrodynamic currents and historical dredging records, determination of the effects of vessel induced shear, and sediment model simulations. The original sediment modeling effort did not include the effects of vessel induced shear stresses on the shoaling in the area. However, after several steps along the analysis path, it was determined that due to the large volume of vessel traffic along the Houston Ship Channel, the effect of the vessel transport could not be neglected. The focus of this presentation is the sediment model validation including the effects of vessel traffic. Due to the results of this model validation, the impact of navigation on the shoaling along the channel was determined to be a significant factor in the sedimentation.
Year: 2009