Designing Dredging Equipment

OE4671/WB3408

Prof.ir. W.J.Vlasblm

12 September 2006 1

Section Dredging engineering

 Purpose of the lecture

• To design a particular type of dredger on basis of

(simple) dredging processes.
• Such a method can be used for many design
problems!

September 12, 2006 2

 Course development

• Introduction lecture in the 5th quarter

• Assignment for one or two persons can be done the

whole year around.

• Total 4 credits (ECT)

September 12, 2006 3

 Assignments for hydraulic dredgers

• Trailing Suction Hopper Dredger (TSHD) for large

reclamation works
• Multi Purpose TSHD for maintenance and beach
nourishments
• Gravel Trailing Suction Hopper Dredgers
• Cutter Suction Dredger
• Environmental Dredger
• Plain Suction Dredger
• Dustpan Dredger

September 12, 2006 4

Assignments for mechanical dredgers

• The backhoe dredger

• The grab dredger
• Bucket ladder dredger

September 12, 2006 5

 Trailing Suction Hopper Dredger

September 12, 2006 6

 Cutter Dredger

September 12, 2006 7

 Plain Suction Dredger

September 12, 2006 8

 Plain Suction Dredger

September 12, 2006 9

 Dustpan Dredger

September 12, 2006 10

 The Environmental Dredger

September 12, 2006 11

 The Backhoe Dredger

September 12, 2006 12

The Grab or
Clamshell Dredger

September 12, 2006 13

 Bucket Ladder Dredger

September 12, 2006 14

 Work Load

The assignment for

• the TSHD, CSD are for 2 students
• The other ones are for 1 student

September 12, 2006 15

 Designing Dredging
Equipment

Productions

Dredging installation

Propulsion (optional)

Prime movers (main engines)

General layout

September 12, 2006 16

 Design productions

Yearly production Working hours

Soil type Delays

Effficeincy

Excavating production

Losses

Transport production

Deposing
Losses

Situ production
September 12, 2006 17
 Design basis = yearly output in m3
(production)

• To be translated to the significant design parameters.

• Depends on the scale (or cycle) of the process.
• Large scales
• Hopper dredger ⇒ volume and load per trip
• Barge unloader dredger ⇒ Barge volume
• Backhoe dredger ⇒ the volume per cycle
• Continuous operating dredgers or equipment m3/week
or m3/month

September 12, 2006 18

 Design Basis (2)

• Small scale:
• “Wall” speed of a breach mm/s
• Pump output in m3/s
• Cutter head Excavated output in
m3/s
• Bucket ladder dredger Buckets/min
• Backhoe dredger Bucket volume/cycle
• Grab dredger Grab volume/cycle

September 12, 2006 19

Problems during translation

• Change of volumes
• In many cases the contractor is paid in volumes
removed, but many processes are based on mass.
• Working hours per week (168 or 84 or 40)
• Down time
• Overhaul & Maintenance
• Bunkering, crew changes, etc
• Delays due to weather conditions

September 12, 2006 20

 Concentration (1/3)

Volume sand Us
• By volume Cv = =
Mixture volume U m
Sand mass ρ sU s ρs
• By weight Cw = = = Cv
Mixture mass ρ mU m ρ m
U s / time Qs
• Delivered Cvd = =
U m / time Qm

September 12, 2006 21

 Concentrations (2/3)

• Ratio between Cvd & Cv follows from:

Qs vs ACv Cvd vs
Cvd = = ⇒ =
Qm vm A Cv vm

• Ratio between Cw & Cv

ρs Cw ρ s
Cw = Cv ⇒ =
ρm Cv ρ m

September 12, 2006 22

 Concentrations (2/3)

Cvd vs
=
Cv vm

•In horizontal transport vs < vm → slip

•In vertical transport vs ≈ vm the difference is the
settling velocity

September 12, 2006 23

 Mixture Volumetric
Densities
⇔ Concentration

• Massmixture=massliquid+masssolids
Us
ρ mU m = ρ f U f + ρ sU s with Cv =
Um
ρ m = ρ f (1 − Cv ) + ρ s Cv
ρm − ρ f
Cv = " Note U is volume"
ρs − ρ f
September 12, 2006 24
 Volume changes

• When removing soil the insitu density will change;

mostly from a dense to a loose state
⇒Increase in porosity; f.I. From 40 to 50%
⇒Porosity n is ratio pore volume over total volume
⇒Condition: V1(1-n1)=V2(1-n2)
Examples:
⇒Sand; n1=0.4 and n2=.5 gives V2/ V1=0.6/0.5=1.2
⇒Rock; n1=0 and n2=.4 gives V2/ V1=1/0.6=1.7

September 12, 2006 25

 Losses

Every dredging process can have losses, called spillage

• More excavated than picked up by the flow or bucket
• Non removed loads in TSHD’s, particular when the
loads is pumped ashore or rainbowed.
• Unstable slopes after dredging (plain suction dredgers)
• In accurate placing of material
• Losses due to current and waves

September 12, 2006 26

 Excavating production

Mechanically Hydraulically

September 12, 2006 27

 Mechanical excavation
Specific Energy Concept (SPE)

Energy required to excavated 1m3 of soil

Dimension is Joule/m3

or per unit of time J/s/m3/s=W/m3/s,

That equals a power over production

power
SPE = ⇒ power = SPE × production
production
September 12, 2006 28
 Mechanical Excavating

September 12, 2006 29

 Mechanical Excavating

September 12, 2006 30

 Mechanical Excavating

September 12, 2006 31

 Hydraulic excavation
Momentum of flow
A reasonable assumption is that the jet- production is
linear with the total momentum flux of the jet system
independent of the trail speed.
Qsand = (1 − n ) Qdredged
M sand = Qsand ρ sand = (1 − n ) Qdredged ρ sand

2p Ppower
M sand = α ⋅ I = αρ w ⋅ Qu = αρ w ⋅ Q = α 2ρ w
ρw p pressure

September 12, 2006 32

 Excavation by dragheads is
hydraulically

September 12, 2006 33

 Water injection dredger

September 12, 2006 34

 Transport production

Mechanically Hydraulically
ship/barge conveyor pipeline

September 12, 2006 35

 Mechanical transport

• Trailing suction hopper dredger

• Barges

• Be aware of the effective load, because the unloading

is not always 100%

September 12, 2006 36

 Transport by barges

September 12, 2006 37

 By Trailing Suction Hopper Dredgers

September 12, 2006 38

 Hydraulic transport
Pressure [kPa] Pump-pipeline system
mixture

3
water 2
4

mixture
1

water

Flow [m3/s]
September 12, 2006 39
 Hydraulic transport

September 12, 2006 40

 Methods of deposing (1/2)

September 12, 2006 41

 Methods of deposing (2/2)

September 12, 2006 42

 disposing

September 12, 2006 43

 Rainbowing

September 12, 2006 44

 Mechanical Assistance

September 12, 2006 45

 Design examples

September 12, 2006 46

 TSHD

September 12, 2006 47

Example 1

Design a Trailing Suction Hopper Dredger that can

dredge yearly 5 Mm3 coarse sand & gravel at 75
nautical miles from a port.

The dredger works 5 days at 24 hours

Bunkers will be taken in the weekend
Overhaul 2 weeks
Weather delays 3 weeks
Workability 95%
Christmas 1 week
September 12, 2006 48
 Designing TSHD

Main dimensions

Dredging installation

Propulsion

General layout
September 12, 2006 49
 Main dimensions

Yearly production Working hours

Soil type Delays

Overflow losses Effficeincy

Hopper capacity and Payload

Dead weight
Displacement

Bock coefficient
Main dimensions ship LxBxT
September 12, 2006 50
 Cycle time

First estimate of dredge cycle:

Sailing to the dredging area: 75/15=3.0 hr
Loading =1.5
Sailing to the unloading area: =3.0
Unloading =1.5
Total =9.0 hr

September 12, 2006 51

 Required load/trip

Available hours: (52-6)x5x24=5520

Effective hours: 0.95x 5520=5244
Number of trips per year: 5244/9= 582
Required volume per trip: 5,000,000/582=8591 m3
In coarse sand & gravel max.filling hopper is 90%
Required hopper volume: 8591/.9=9546 ⇒ 10000 m3
Density of sand & gravel in hopper 2000 kg/m3
PayLoad is: 8600x2=17200 ton
Hopper density: load/volume=1.72 t/m3.

September 12, 2006 52

 Deadweight & lightweight
Crew and their possessions, consumer goods, spare
parts, and ballast water and payload.
Deadweight=1.05 x payload
Light weight as function of deadweight

25,000

20,000
Light weight [t]

15,000
y = -3E-06x 2 + 0.5586x
10,000 R2 = 0.9607

5,000

0
0 10,000 20,000 30,000 40,000 50,000 60,000 70,000
Deadweight [t[

September 12, 2006 53

 Displacement

70,000
60,000 y = 0.6827x
50,000 R2 = 0.9929
Weight [t]

40,000 G Light weight

30,000 Dead weight

20,000
y = 0.3173x
10,000 R2 = 0.9622
0
0 20,000 40,000 60,000 80,000 100,000
Displacement [t]

September 12, 2006 54

 Block coefficient

L B

∇
Cb =
LBT

September 12, 2006 55

 Ship Numbers

Ships Numbers

8
7
L/B, B/H, B/T

6
5
L/B
4
3 B/H
2 B/T
1
0
1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000
Year of Construction

September 12, 2006 56

 Dredging installation

Cvd

Required pump capacity

Overflow losses

No Overflow
Main Dimensions losses equal as assumed?

Yes
Pumps and pipelines

September 12, 2006 57

 Pump capacities

• 10000 m3 in 90 min=1.85 m3/s including pores or

1.85x0.6=1.11 m3/s excluding pores
• Assume Cvd=0.2 → capacity Q=1.11/0.25=5.55 m3/s
or per suction tube 2.8 m3/s
• Critical velocity for course sand is 5 m/s, so pipe
diameter is 0.85 m → 0.85 m

• In coarse sand and gravel there are no overflow losses

to account for.

September 12, 2006 58

 Excavation process

September 12, 2006 59

 Calculated the required jet pressure

•Sand mass follows from production

Qsand = (1 − n ) Qdredged
M sand = Qsand ρ sand = (1 − n ) Qdredged ρ sand
•Momentum follows from:
M sand = α ⋅ I
With α=0.1

2p Ppower
α ⋅ I = αρ w ⋅ Q jet u = αρ w ⋅ Q = α 2ρw
ρw p pressure
September 12, 2006 60
Relation between Qmix, Qjet and Qerosion

0.9

0.8

0.7

0.6

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1 Cvd/(1-n)=0
Cvd/(1-n)=0.2
0
Cvd/(1-n)=0.4
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
Cvd/(1-n)=0.6
Qjet / Qmixture Cvd/(1-n)=0.8

September 12, 2006 61

 Pumps and pipelines

Determine jet capacity

and pressure

Submerged pump required?

No

Yes

Depth of submerged pump

Determine headlosses
and power(s)

Choose pump(s)

September 12, 2006 62

 Submerged pump required?

H
ρmixture
ρwater hs

Non cohesive material

1 1
ρ water gH + Vac = ρ mixture ghz + ξ ρ mixture v = ρ mixture g( H − k ) + ξ ρ mixture v 2
2
2 2
September 12, 2006 63
 Hydraulic transport

• From seabed into the hopper

• From hopper to the shore
• Mostly empirical relations (Matousek)

• For gravel dredgers this is

mostly be mechanically

September 12, 2006 64

 Pump characteristics

September 12, 2006 65

 Propulsion

For dredging & sailing

Bow trust power

Total Installed

Power balance

General layout

September 12, 2006 66

 Propulsion power

25000
y = 0.4641x - 510.11
2
20000 R = 0.8741
Pp [kW]

15000

10000

5000

0
0 10000 20000 30000 40000 50000
Displacement [t]

September 12, 2006 67

 Bow trust power

Bow trust power

3,500
Bow trust power [k

3,000 y = 0.1758x - 19.495

2,500 R2 = 0.8036
2,000
1,500
1,000
500
0
0 2,000 4,000 6,000 8,000 10,000 12,000 14,000 16,000
Propulsion power during trailing [kW]

September 12, 2006 68

 General Arrangement

September 12, 2006 69

 General Arrangement of gravel
dredger

September 12, 2006 70

 Simple general arrangment

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N

Tship H Hs
= ho hip
pp
13,2 er
=
= 1
1 See figure 4,
3 B7.1 7

Bh Bs
op hip
per =
= 3
2 3
5
m
Lhopper = 62 m
Lship= 165 m
September 12, 2006 71
 The Cutter Suction Dredger

September 12, 2006 72

Example 2

Design a cutter dredger that can dredge dredge yearly

5 Mm3 rock with a unconfined compressive strength of
5 MPa. The tensile strength is 1 Mpa
The dredgers have to work 168 hrs a week.
Yearly overhaul 4 weeks
Christmas leave 1 week
General delays 10%
Dredging delays 20
SPE~qu

September 12, 2006 73

 Required cut production

Available hours (52-5)x168=7896

Non dredging hours:0.3x7896=2369
Dredging hours 7896-2369=5527
Estimated spillage 25%
Required hourly output: 1.25x5000000/5527=±1130 m3.
Qdredged=1130/3600=0.314 m3/s
Time losses due to stepping, spud changes 15%
Qcut=0.31/0.85=0.37 m3/s
SPE=5MJ/m3.
Required mean cutter power 0.37x5=1.85 MW
September 12, 2006 74
 Cutter head productions c.q. Spillage

•The rotational speed of the cutter head causes spillage.

•The productivity c.q. spillage depends on the ratio:

Q pump
•For sand the productivity is: Pr ≈ 2.5
ω Rcutter
3

•For rock the productivity is much lower

September 12, 2006 75

Cutter head productions c.q. Spillage

RELATIVE PRODUCTION

Gravel 10 mm Gravel 15 mm Ladder 25 deg. Sand

80
70
60
50
Pr [%]

40
30
20
10
0
0.00 0.10 0.20 0.30 0.40 0.50 0.60 0.70 0.80
Flow number [-]

September 12, 2006 76

 Cutter head production process
in rock or gravel

September 12, 2006 77

 Cutter head dimensions for rock
with 25 % spillage

Vm=2.67 m/s Vm=3.5 m/s Vm=5 m/s

120 12
cutter head speeds
100 10
Cutter head speed [rpm]

Capacities

Pump capacity [m3/s]

80 8

60 6

40 4

20 2

0 0
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0
Cutter diameter [m]

September 12, 2006 78

 Pump capacity and concentrations

Qdredged=0.314 m3/s
Qmixture=3.5 m3/s

Qsand Qdredged (1 − n )
Cvd = =
Qmixture Qmixture

September 12, 2006 79

 Pumping distances and installed
pump power

• Knowledge of hydraulic losses can be found in the

lecture notes of Matousek c.q. Talmon
• Knowledge of dredge pump can be found on our
website and is downloadable.

September 12, 2006 80

 Lightweight of pontoon

10,000

8,000 y = 0.3485x
Light weight [t]

2
R = 0.925
6,000

4,000

2,000

0
0 5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 25,000
Total installed power [kW]

September 12, 2006 81

 Pontoon dimensions (1/2)

L/B B/T

12.00

10.00

8.00
L/B & B/T

6.00

4.00

2.00

0.00
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 9000
Light weight [t]

September 12, 2006 82

 Pontoon dimensions (2/2)

10,000
9,000 y = 0.4664x
8,000 R 2 = 0.9597
7,000
Light weight [t]

6,000
5,000
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
0
0 5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 25,000
BLD [m 3]

September 12, 2006 83

 Simple Plan

September 12, 2006 84

 Backhoe dredger

September 12, 2006 85

Example 3

• A backhoe dredger have to dredge 500 m3/in fine sand

with a SPE of .7MJ/m3.
• Calculated the Bucket size and cylinder forces

September 12, 2006 86

 Fill Degree & Bulk factor

Soil type Filling degree Bulking factor

Soft clay 1.5 1.1
Hard clay 1.1 1.3
Sand & Gravel 1 1.05
Rock; well blasted 0.7 1.5
Rock, unblasted 0.5 1.7

September 12, 2006 87

 Dredge Cycle

• Cycle times of the bucket depends on the dredging

depth and soil type, but are in the order between 20
and 40 seconds.
• The cycle consists of:
• • Digging
• • Lifting and swinging
• • Dumping
• • Swinging and lowering
• • Positioning.

September 12, 2006 88

 Crane weight versus bucket size for
soft soil
30
2
y = -7E-06x + 0.0494x + 1.5486
25 2
R = 0.9778
Bucket size [m3]

20

15 bucket2

10

0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
Crane weight [ton]

September 12, 2006 89

 Required power

Liebherr Excavators

2500

2000
Power [kW]

1500

1000 y = 4.4679x
R2 = 0.9936
500

0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
Crane weight [tons]

September 12, 2006 90

 Relation for existing dredgers

1200.00
Rock buckets
1000.00
Installed power [kW]

800.00

600.00

400.00

200.00

0.00
0.00 5.00 10.00 15.00 20.00
Bucket size [m3]

September 12, 2006 91

 Light weight pontoon

1800
1600
1400
Light weight [t]

1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
0 250 500 750 1,000 1,250
Total installed power [kW]

September 12, 2006 92

 Pontoon volume

1800
1600
y = 0.4713x
1400 2
R = 0.6122
Light weight [t]

1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000
LBD [m3]

September 12, 2006 93

 Ships numbers for BHD

L/B B/T

9.00
8.00
7.00
6.00
L/B & B/t

5.00
4.00
3.00
2.00
1.00
0.00
0 200 400 600 800 1,000 1,200 1,400 1,600 1,800
Light weight [t]

September 12, 2006 94

 Simple Plan

September 12, 2006 95

 Newer ideas can be discussed

September 12, 2006 96

 The shallow draught TSHD

September 12, 2006 97