Push tows in canals

Push tows in canals

Koster, J.

1975-01-01

This publication summarizes the research carried out in the Netherlands in the 1960s into the dimensions required for the cross-section of ship canals if push tows are to navigate safely with other types of inland shipping.The necessary cross-section dimensions were determined by the space required for the different traffk situations which must be possible without danger. The traffk situation requiring the greatest amount of space - taken as the key traffk situation - involves three large vessels: one is overtaking another, while a third is sailing in the opposite direction. At first sight it would seem that trafik problems in fairways can be approached by methods similar to those used in the case of roads, i.e. by allocating a lane of a given width to each of the vessels involved. This method has been used in some previous studies. Closer consideration shows, however, that it is unsatisfactory because in a fairway not only the vessel but also the supporting environment is in motion. As a result, the transverse movements of a vessel are more difficult to control than those of a vehicle on a highway whereas in addition, the different vessels infiuence one another. As long as a single ship is sailing in the axis of a straight canal with a prismatic cross-section, it is possible to derive approximate theoretica1 values for at least the principal characteristic parameters of the water movement (drop of the water level and reverse flow). In this case sufficient data is also available from practical measurements and laboratory tests to determine with reasonable accuracy the deviations from the theoretical results as a consequence of the approximations used. However, when the ship is not navigating in the canal axis and in particular when several ships are present alongside each other in the canal simultaneously, the water movement becomes too complicated for a theoretical approximation. It is therefore still impossibIe to obtain rules for the design of a canal cross-section by theoretical means. Satisfactory data for this purpose is also not available in literature.

canal
inland navigation
push barges
push tows

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Rijkswaterstaat

Rijkswaterstaat Communications 21

Hydraulic Engineering Reports

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© 1975 Rijkswaterstaat