Author(s): Annemarie De Visser; Rene Boeters
Linked Author(s):
Keywords: No Keywords
Abstract: A way to make the banks of navigation canals more ecologically-sound, is to create shallow, wet zones behind a fixed, protective structure. These bank protections offer aquatic and terrestrial habitats for plants and animals, since they reduce the hydraulic dynamics to an acceptable level. The aim of this paper is to show how we design such bank protections. In the design process we make use of two computer programs, that are especially developed for the modelling of ship-induced water movements on canals. The computer program DIPRO (DImensioning PROtections) computes ship-induced waves and currents on canal banks and gives matching dimensions of protec-tions. The computer program PLONS (Postioning and Length-distribution of Gaps in Wet-zone-protecting Structures; the Dutch word "plons" means splash) calculates the rate of water exchange between the canal and the wet zone through apertures or lower-ings in the structure for a given ship-induced waterlevel depression on the canal. This paper first explains why we create wet zones and why the design should be car-ried out with care. In order to illustrate the design process, an example from Dutch practise will be worked out. After the introduction of the example case, background information will be given on DIPRO, and the application of DIPRO in the example case will be explained. Then PLONS will be presented and applied for the example case. Finally some other types of protective structures will be mentioned as well as the Dutch experience with wet zones.
Year: 1997