Morphological Assessment with Impact of Jetties in a Navigational Channel of an Estuarine System using Numerical Modelling

Abstract

Ports are very essential for the economic growth of a country which are primarily newline utilised for importing and exporting goods. The necessity of maintaining the shipping newline channel is very crucial for the untroubled movement of ships and vessels. However, newline sedimentation in the navigational channel has been a severe concern to the Port newline authorities over the years. The construction of jetties in a coastal reach is another newline crucial aspect of port navigation for cargo loading and unloading. However, these newline types of jetties can also create a problem for navigation by accumulating sediments newline on the shipping channel. Another important aspect of the study is salinity intrusion newline through tidal rivers which is a severe threat to the drinking water supply sector, newline especially in the dry seasons. newline The area considered in this research work is the Hooghly estuarine system, including newline the confluence of river Hooghly and river Rupnarayan. The study area lies in the newline southernmost part of West Bengal, India. The Hooghly estuarine system is a part newline of the world s largest Ganga-Brahmaputra delta. From a navigational point of view, newline Hooghly estuary is the corridor of two major riverine ports for the eastern region of newline India; Kolkata and Haldia ports. The Rangafala channel is one of the main channels newline leading to Kolkata port. newline The bathymetric study and differential analyses have been executed for 24 years newline using the hydrographic survey data to ascertain the morphological characteristics of newline the Hooghly estuarine system. The differential study is the change in depth between newline two bathymetries. For the execution of this study, Digital Elevation Models (DEM) newline have been prepared using ArcGIS from the digitised bathymetry data. The kriging newline interpolation technique is used to prepare the DEM based on the Gaussian process newline regression. This study helps to identify the scouring and deposition zones in the newline navigation channels. Significant portions of the Rangafala channel experienced scouring newline activity for most of the years. After that, a Cartesian