Navigation Engineering

Navigation engineering is life-cycle planning, design, construction, operation, and maintenance of safe, secure, reliable, efficient, and environmentally sustainable navigable waterways (channels, structures, and support systems) used to move people and goods by waterborne vessels. It overlaps with several disciplines, including water resources plus sedimentation, port, and coastal engineering. Our projects include:

 

Navigation Safety in Uncharted Waters

We examined hydrographic, tide, weather, and discharge data, sediment samples, and vessel Automatic Identification System (AIS) records to determine the track of a vessel in uncharted waters of Louisiana and its underkeel clearance along that track. We provided expert testimony on the circumstances of the passage and its safety in light of standard navigation channel safety and hydrographic surveying.

 

Outdraft Forces on a Tow

We calculated outdraft forces on a multi-barge tow as it attempted to enter a navigation lock during high flows through the dam spillway. Numerical modeling by Dynamic Solutions was combined with desktop hydraulic calculations and analysis of Automatic Identification System (AIS) and camera records to examine the passage of the vessel under the strong cross-currents of outdraft and to compute lateral forces on the tow.