Study on Combined Dredging Concept of Twin-Hull Trailing Suction Dredger With Self-Propelled Barges
Type:
Presented during:
WODCON XX: "The Art of Dredging" - 2013, Brussels, Belgium
Authors:
Yang ZW, Fei L, Liu HS, Lin F
Abstract: “Dredging” and “transport” of dredged material used to be combined within the work of a trailing suction hopper dredger (TSHD) in its dredging cycle. However, there are now an increasing number of large TSHDs fitted with barge loading systems for long-distance sand winning and transport developed in order to improve efficiency and reduce costs.
Due to the scarcity of sand resources near the coast and the increasing concerns for environment protection, a new dredging system is suggested. This would be a. twin-hull no-hopper trailing suction dredger combined system wherein dredging operations will be performed with the same equipment (i.e. suction pipes with submerged pump) as ordinary large TSHDs. Sand is loaded into a barge moored between the demi-hulls by the barge loading system. Once fully loaded, the barge will automatically exit and sail to the reclamation site allowing other barges to be loaded. As the function of “dredging” and “transport” are performed by two different kinds of equipment, the whole process is optimized.
Other functional configurations may also be remarkably simplified for the no-hopper TSDs to reduce building costs. Besides, as the barge is moored between the demi-hulls, twin suction pipes can be used for loading, which means the efficiency is greatly improved in comparison with conventional single suction pipe loading. As barges are used to substitute expensive large TSHDs for transport of the dredged sand, dredging costs will be reduced and the working process accelerated. This new combined system is a promising development in the deep-sea, large scale, sand winning, dredging market.
Keywords: twin-hull TSD, self-propelled barge, combined dredging system, new concept, reduction of dredging costs