Mud research to optimize the dredging strategy in the Deurganckdok in the port of Antwerp
Ides, S.; Plancke, Y. (2014). Mud research to optimize the dredging strategy in the Deurganckdok in the port of Antwerp, in: 33rd PIANC World Congress - Navigating the new millenium, San Francisco, June 1 to 5, 2014: papers. pp. [1-15]
Where the port of Antwerp historically developed behind the locks in a non-tidal environment, since the late 1980’s container handling capacity has been built along the tidal river Scheldt. In 2005 the first tidal dock, the so-called Deurganckdok, was opened offering about 5 km of new quay walls and a capacity of about 7 million TEU per annum. However, every tide fine sediments, which are being transported by the ebb and flood flow, settle in the Deurganckdok. In order to maintain the required depth in the dock, continuous maintenance dredging works are needed. On average a volume of 1 million m3 is being dredged by a trailing suction hopper dredger every year.
The port of Antwerp together with .Ocean Nautical Innovations have carried out an extensive research program in 2012-2013 investigating the physical processes of the settled mud in the Deurganckdok, with the goal to find ways to optimize the dredging strategy. In this research program some state-of-the-art instruments were being used to measure the different properties of the mud, among which the newly developed free fall penetrometer Graviprobe from .Ocean Nautical Innovations.
In a first stage, mud from the Deurganckdok was put in a test facility where the environment could be controlled. In this way the influence of different parameters on the consolidation process could be distinguished. In a second stage, in situ measurements were carried out in the Deurganckdok during different moments in time. This paper describes the results of all measurements as well as the conclusions related to the possible optimization of the dredging works in the Deurganckdok.
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