MODELLING THE RIVER BED DREDGING POTENTIAL OF

PASSING SHIPS FOR EFFICIENT INLAND WATERWAY

TRANSPORTATION

Lead Researcher: Ombor Pereowei Garrick

Senior Scientist/Research Supervisor: Professor C. Ajuwa

Department of Marine Engineering

Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun, Nigeria

8th August, 2016

1.0 INTRODUCTION
The Niger River offers great opportunity to ECOWAS countries to integrate their transportation
scheme to ensure improved economic cooperation as well as provide logistics solution and lighten
the burden of increasing transport volume on roads and railways.

The consideration of increased use of Niger River for inland waterways transport has been relegated
to the background owing to the river depth related issues. Seasonal variations in the discharge
characteristics of the river makes travel on the river seasonal. The main challenges that must be
overcome to make the river navigable all year round include siltation, dumping of industrial wastes,
climate change and anthropological activities such as construction of dams and irrigation. Except
these challenges are overcome, the river is predicted to become extinct in the next few decades and
all its numerous applicable and potential use will be lost.

Presently, the only feasible solution to this challenge proposed by member states of the Niger Basin
Authority is intermittent dredging of the river and establishment of regulatory policies. Active
dredging of a river is expensive and raises other environmental issues such as health of aquatic life,
turbidity, flooding, and dredged waste disposal. Moreover, they are not sustainable as siltation will
occur again as a result of anthropological activities and by natural means.

This study proposes a passive method to establish all year round navigable channel within the
waterways. The study investigates the possibility of using a mechanism that makes use of the large
amount of energy wasted from passing ships' propulsion engines in creating destructive waves
(waves that erodes river banks, break mooring lines etc) to continuously scour the bed of the channel.
As long as there is high rate of ships' passage through the waterway, this passive dredging method
should provide a sustainable way to increase the depth of the waterway at no extra energy cost,
mobilization of complex machineries to dredging site and man hours.

1.1 Statement of Problem

A huge amount of energy is being wasted when ships sailing on inland waterways generate waves.
These waves erodes banks of waterway and transport sediments to the bed of the waterway. The
resultant effect of the wave is a reduction in depth of the waterway. Continuous dredging of the
waterway is needed to maintain the waterway depth. The huge dredging cost makes this approach not
sustainable for shallow waterways like the Niger River. As such, there is a strong need to develop
new class of riverbed scouring/sediment collection Inland waterway cargo transport system that can
harness the destructive wasted wave energy generated by passing ships to sustainably increase the
depth of the bed of the waterway. The problem is how to develop a mechanism that harnesses the
wave energy generated by passing ships to dredge the bed of an inland waterway.

1.2 Aim
The aim of this study is to investigate the potential of using wave energy generated by passing ships
to scour the bed of inland waterways with a view to promoting efficient transportation in inland
waterways and preventing flood disaster.

1.3 Objectives
The objectives of this study are:
 1. Model the bathymetric and morphodynamics of a given portion of the Niger River used for
inland waterway transport and use the model to predict the required waterway bed scouring
forces as well as establish ship travel tracks on the deep parts of the waterway.
2. Predict the hydrodynamic forces and energy available in the waves generated by the passing
ships
3. Develop a scouring and sediment collection mechanism capable of harnessing the wave
energy generated by the passing ships.
4. Develop a numerical model that predicts the impact of the harnessed wave energy on the
bathymetric and morphodynamics of the bed of shallow inland waterways

2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW

Modern ship design spiral requires the Naval Architect to first define the mission statement of the
ship under design consideration (Taggart, 1980). Such statement usually includes the ship's cargo
type and travel route. Ships whose mission is to travel to and from polar countries are often fitted
with ice breakers. As such, it will not be out of place to design a new class of shallow inland
waterway cargo vessels that are fitted with waterway bed scouring and collection mechanism. This
new class of vessel will sustainably dredge shallow rivers with minimal energy and reduced
environmental disturbance as it passes through the waterway. Such vessels should have the capability
to make the inland waterway navigable all year round while they transport cargoes to hinterland.

A more energy efficient and sustainable approach of passive dredging of waterways will involve
development of a mechanism that utilizes waves generated by passing ships to scour the bed of the
waterway. Large amount of energy are being wasted to create and maintain waves when ships move
on water, this energy is expressed in the form of wave making resistance in Naval Architecture.
According to Lewis (1988), wave making resistance can be as high as 30% -50% of the total
resistance of high speed ships.

The energy in wave systems generated (lost) by ships has been theoretically assessed by Havelock
(1951) using the idea of source and sink to simulate the flow around different body shapes and so
find the wave pattern, pressure distribution and resistance to the ship motion. The numerical
approach Wigley and Lunde (1948) and Daube and Dulieu (1981) to predict wave resistance show
satisfactory agreement with model test results

Devices and machineries that converts wave energy to other useful energy forms (mechanical,
electrical etc) are widely available today. According to Clement et al (2002), there are over 1000
wave energy conversion techniques that have been patented in Japan, North America, and Europe.
Such devices regarded as wave energy converters (WEC) use one form of concept or mechanism or
the other to achieve their objective. Some available devices that can easily be adapted by and
attached to the ship or ship track created on the waterway for bed scouring includes:
 Wave activated bodies (WABs) are devices with moving elements that are directly activated
by the cyclic oscillation of the waves. Power is extracted by converting the kinetic energy of
these displacing parts into electric current. The electrical power generated can be used to
drive scouring component attached to the ship or ship travel track created on the waterway.
 The oscillating water columns (OWCs) described by Kofoed and Frigaard. The OWC is
based on the principle of wave induced air pressurization. This device is set upon a closed air
chamber, which is placed above the water and attached to the ship or track created on the
waterway. The OWC can be adapted to drive the scouring and sediment collection
mechanism attached to the ship or track.
  The attenuator point absorber type WEC "Wave Star", developed by Wave Star ApS, which
has a number of floaters on movable arms. The energy of the motion of the arms can be
adapted for dredging purpose without the need for electrical generating units.

Several models and analytical techniques exists today to properly assess the performance of WECs.
Orazov et al. (2010) proposed an excitation scheme for buoy-type ocean wave energy converters by
using a non autonomous piecewise linear second order differential equation. He demonstrated that
the sensitivity of the device's power harvesting capabilities to changes in damping becomes much
smaller when the novel excitation scheme is used. A mathematical representation of this work was
done by Rougirel (2013). Rougirel looked into bounded and periodic solutions, and compare the
energy-harvesting capabilities of this novel WEC with respect to that of a wave energy converter
without mass modulation, Nunes et al (2011) described the modelling of an off-shore oscillating
water column for producing electricity from sea waves. Heikkinen et al (2013) studied oscillating
horizontally orientated cylinder wave energy converter. He used a combination of potential flow
theory with Euler’s equations to obtain the pressure distribution around the cylinder from which both
the force upon the cylinder, and the net mechanical power transferred from the waves to the moving
cylinder, were calculated. A numerical model and a simulator in the time domain model was
developed by Pedro (2014) and used in the design and analysis of buoy geometries for a wave energy
converter. Results from the analysis shows that the applicable buoy geometry that is structural
suitable for WECs.

While these models are not specifically developed for waves generated by ships, the models used to
predict the energy from ship waves can be combined with WECs performance assessment models to
predict the performance of the WECs when subjected to waves from ships.

Continuous scouring overtime will be needed to yield the desired depth for the waterway. That
means smaller amount of energy is consumed for extended period to remove similar volume that a
dredger will remove in lesser time. Scouring of the top layer of waterway bed requires far less energy
compared to actual dredging. As such, energy from ship waves are appropriate for scouring
purposes.

The experimental and numerical analysis of scouring process and phenomenon of the bed of a
waterway has be studied by several researchers (Azar et al., 2012; Ledden, 2003; Lashkar-Ara et al.,
2012; Zhang et al., 2004) . The interaction between cohesive and noncohesive sediments on the
bed of the waterway has been modelled by Ledden (2003). Ledden declared that when the silt
content is below 30% implies the seabed is non-cohesive and erosion is generally easy whereas if
the silt content at the seabed exceeds the 30% level, the seabed is cohesive and more energy is
required to erode this layer is much harder. Lashkar-Ara et al (2012) provides great understanding
of scouring process a natural phenomenon which occurs as a part of the morphological changes of
rivers. The energy approach described by Zhang et al (2004) which was originally developed for
assessment of scouring or removal of alluvial material by flowing water provides a good basis to
analyse the energy required from ships' waves to scour the bed of the waterway to a given depth.

3.0 METHODOLOGY
The assessment of the potential use of the wave energy from passing ships to dredge the bed of
shallow inland waterways will be carried out using a range of ship dynamics and environmental
hydrodynamics and morphodynamics numerical (simulation) tools, such as FINEL3D, SWAN,
ROMS etc. The study will be divided into two parts, namely:
 Modelling the morphodynamics of a shallow Inland Waterway Channel
 Modelling the dredging mechanism of passing ships on a proposed constrained transport
track on the channel.
Finally, the results of the study will be used to make recommendations to maritime regulatory bodies
and other government agencies on the beneficial use passing ships as a sustainable dredging
mechanism for efficient transportation in the inland waterways

3.1 Modelling the Morphodynamics of an Inland Waterway Channel

The first part of the study will involve developing and applying a numerical model to determine the
morphodynamics of the natural inland waterway channel without the interference of the proposed
channel constraints and passing ships through the channel. This model will include the following
modules:
 Hydrodynamic modules, focusing on tidal levels and currents, river discharge, wave
action and wave induced currents;
 Sediment transport modules for the calculation of bed and suspended load of non-cohesive
and cohesive sediments and for the interaction between cohesive and non-cohesive
sediments at the seabed;
 Morphodynamic modules takes input from the hydrodynamic and sediment transport
modules for online adaptation of the seabed level to the calculated sedimentation and
erosion rates and for online restarting of the dynamic loop.

3.1.1 Hydrodynamic module

The hydrodynamic module will include the following sub-modules
 Wave Sub-Module: Waves play important part in morphological changes of shallow
waterways. The wave model will consider:
 The spatial distribution of wave forces, is input for the hydrodynamic module to
include the effect of wave driven currents in the total flow pattern. Because of the
varying water level during the tide, the wave calculations are done for several water
levels during the tidal cycle, for intermediate water levels the wave fields are
interpolated.
 The spatial distribution of the orbital motion at the seabed (amplitude and direction),
to be added to the current shear stresses (tide, wind or wave driven) to obtain the total
shear stress as input for the sediment transport module. Here again, the results of the
wave field calculations at varying water levels are used and interpolated if required
during the calculation process.
 The cross shore distribution of the wave field in the coastal zone as input for the
calculation of sediment transport . This option is applied in this study as an extra
calibration parameter in the dynamic coastal section with breaking waves.

3.1.2 Sediment (Sand-Silt) Transport Module

This module is incorporated into the model to avoid treating the sand and silt sediment independently
and account for the interaction between cohesive and noncohesive sediments. The module
administrates the history of the mix of sand and silt in the seabed on the basis of field data and/or
morphodynamic calculation results in a number of layers. The erosion characteristics of the top layer
at the seabed (being the layer that is directly exposed to the water forces) depend on the sand/silt
ratio of the top layer at the moment of exposure. A silt content below 30% declares the seabed to be
non-cohesive and erosion is generally easily. In return, if the silt content at the seabed
exceeds the 30% level, the seabed characteristics are defined as cohesive, which implies that the
erosion of this layer is much harder.

3.1.3 Morphodynamic Module

This module accounts for the gradual adaptation of the seabed level and composition to the
changing conditions and calculated sediment movements. The results of the hydrodynamic and
sediment transport modules are used to come to a statistically representative mix of conditions and
processes. The statistical independent physical processes and phenomena usually present in inland
waterways environment include:
 The tidal motion
 The wave climate
 The river discharge

Morphological calculations are usually done in several blocks. In each block a varying river
discharge and metocean conditions are applied. Each block calculates a certain hydrodynamic
timeframe of 1 or more tides. To ensure efficient computation time, a morphological acceleration
factor (N) is applied to the calculated sea bottom change each timestep the morphological
module is called. So for example when the hydrodynamic part of the model has calculated one
timestep (dt) the morphological part has calculated N*dt timesteps.

The morphodynamic module will be validated using measured data and used to predict the
morphodynamics of the seabed. The morphodynamic module is validated based on observed
waterlevels, observed discharges and bathymetry of channels. The boundary conditions of the
validation periods of the watermovement are obtained from a hydrodynamic model of the inland
waterways. The shape and magnitude of the calculated waterlevels should match the observed
waterlevels. Similarly, the observed discharges should match the module's predicted discharges.
The historical observed bathymetry is used as input in the module to calculate and predict the current
bathymetry. The calculated bathymetry should match with the currently measured bathymetry. Most
of the relevant morphological phenomena (such as the sedimentation, erosion, the eastward and
westward movement of the channels) could be reproduced by the module. The module should be
able to forecast future morphological changes in the waterways by taking into cognisance the
changes in metocean conditions and the rate of vessel movement in the channel over the period
considered.

3.2 Modelling the dredging mechanism of passing ships on a proposed constrained ship
travel track on a shallow channel.
The bathymetrics derived from the morphological module will be used to delineate the pool areas
along length and width of the channel. The dredging mechanism will be placed on either side of the
pool areas to form a constrained ship travel track in the channel for the passage of ships.

This part of the study will involve complementing the model developed in the first part of this study
with other module(s) to account for the energy transferred by waves generated by passing ships to a
dredging mechanism attached to the ship or placed along the pool pathway (constrained travel track)
of the shallow channel as well as the impact of the passing ships on the overall morphodynamics of
the bed of the travel track.
The complementary module will include:
 Ship dynamic module: This module proposes the use of RANS solver and linear diffraction
analysis to respective account for the disturbance caused by passing ships on the dredging
mechanism and the reflected/diffraction effects due to the presence of the dredging mechanisms
(with changing geometry) which are placed at varying passing distance from the port and
starboard sides of the ship sailing along the constrained ship travel route of a shallow waterway.
The module will also account for shallow water effect on ships' wave making process as well as
the interaction between the wave reflected from the dredging mechanism and the hull of the
passing ship for shorter passing distance.

The geometry of the dredging mechanism changes with the effect of the interaction between
wave disturbance, reflection and diffraction. The dredging mechanism will be designed such that
the changes in its geometry ensures the scouring the river bed. The moments and forces
generated as a result of the wave energy induced changes in the geometry of the dredging
mechanism are also calculated by the module. Verification of this module will be carried out by
means of grid refinement studies. Validation will be carried out by means of scale experiments.
The validation will involve comparing the module results with those from model tests in a test
basin for a ship passing the dredging mechanism placed along the constrained ship travel route at
various ship drift angles.

3.3 The Integrated Passing Ships Inland Waterways Dredging Model

Finally, the results of the ship dynamic module is interfaced with the hydrodynamic, sediment and
morphodynamic module to predict the bathymetrics and morphodynamics of the river bed as a result
of the impact of wave energy generated by the passing ships along the constrained ship travel route.
Validation of the integrated model will be carried out by means of scale experiments. The validation
will involve comparing the numerical model results with those from model tests in a model basin.

4.0 CONCLUSION
The need to improve the efficiency of inland water transport system to solve the challenges posed by
increased population growth and cargo volume requirement cannot be over-emphasized. The passive
waterway depth increment method proposed has the potential to ensure all round inland waterway.
The model when successfully developed and implemented will open a new paradigm in inland
waterway management and maritime transportation.

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 MODELLING THE RIVER BED DREDGING POTENTIAL OF
PASSING SHIPS FOR EFFICIENT INLAND WATERWAY
TRANSPORTATION

MODELLING THE DREDGING MECHANISM OF PASSING SHIPS

FOR EFFICIENT TRANSPORTATION IN INLAND WATERWAYS