Dipl.-Ing. Dennis Harlacher, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Bettar Ould el Moctar Hydrodynamic and ship dynamic modelling for trafficability analysis of inland waterways

Within the scope of the cooperation agreement between the Institute of Ship Technology, Ocean Engineering and Transport Systems (ISMT) and the Federal Waterways Engineering and Research Institute (BAW) in Karlsruhe, a common enhancement on the basis of Inland Electronic Chart Display and Information System (Inland ECDIS) is planned for the assessment of inland waterways. ECDIS combines the necessary information for safety navigation in a system consisting of navigational maps, positioning systems, sensors (radar, sonar) and other information. By the Inland ECDIS standard, a huge number of objects can be shown in the Inland Electronic Navigational Chart (Inland ENC) and be described with data. Hydraulic information such as flow depths and flow velocities in the Inland ENC assists the ship master during navigation and helps to increase of the safety of inland navigation. In addition, trip scheduling and supervision are improved, thereby increasing the efficiency of inland water transportation.

Within the scope of the cooperation agreement, an assessment procedure for inland waterways is developed, taking into account nautical aspects. In the procedure, beside the (pre) given geometry of waterways, the results of hydrodynamic numerical (HN-) river basin models and the ship dynamic approaches are considered. In addition, necessary nautical information for the assessment procedure are interpreted, based on the global data standard (S-57) of the Inland ENC. The hydrodynamic and ship dynamic modelling shall be available for a trafficability analysis of inland waterways within the scope of the duties of the Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration (WSV).

The project is sponsored by the Federal Waterways  Engineering and Research Institute (BAW).