Dredging equipment

This chapter presents a brief description of dredging equipment including the soils which can be dredged, operational limitations and the combination of equipment for dredging, transport and placement. Considerations are given for  

The various types of suction dredgers are the plain suction dredger, the cutter suction dredger and the trailing suction hopper dredger. 

Mechanical dredgers are the (hydraulic) backhoe dredger and the grab dredger. 

The selection of dredging equipment for winning, transport and placement of 

All the above factors have to be accounted for in the selection of the type of equipment, to determine the capacity of that equipment and to decide how the dredged 

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Birds and eggs are hand collected. Fish and sedentary organisms (e.g., shellfish, oysters, and plankton) are collected at low tide using commercial dredging equipment or nets. 

One of my first jobs out of engineering school was building river dredging equipment in South America. Because of the prohibitive cost of importing equipment, we reconfigured a lot of used and old equipment. Using a systems approach, coupled with hazard analyses, helped us to understand the implications of our contraptions on the human operator (our customers). It was easy and fast to apply. 

Moreover, anew generation of dredging equipment, increasing awareness of the marine environment and the tendency to reduce construction time (i.e., return on investment period) will alfect the design and construction methods requiring new standards. 

Boundary conditions are often site and project specific as well. Physical site conditions, such as wave climate, currents, water depth, subsoil properties and the vulnerability of the environment to dredging and reclamation activities will differ from one site to another. The quahty and quantity of the fill available for construction will strongly depend on the location of the project. These conditions will not only affect the design of a reclamation, but they must also be taken into account when selecting the most suitable dredging equipment and construction method. 

Commonly used dredging equipment and its use can be found in Chapter 4 Dredging equipment. Possibilities and limitations of the various types of dredgers and then-vulnerability to the physical conditions of the project site are also included. 

In addition bathymetrical data may be needed to investigate the accessibility of the dredge area to the dredging equipment. The sailing route to and from the dredge area should also be mapped. 

Apart from damage to the dredging equipment, a wreck itself can sometimes be of archaeological importance and may not be disturbed. Therefore, all wrecks and obstacles should be localized with a wreck survey and if necessary removed from the seabed before dredging operations begin. Large wrecks or... 

In the following sections a brief description of types of dredging equipment and examples of combinations of equipment are given. For a more detailed description of the dredging equipment reference is made to Appendix A of this Manual. 

In this section a brief overview of the main available dredging equipment is presented in order to provide the reader with some basic knowledge of these tools and their uses. 

The response of dredging equipment to swell and waves depends on characteristics of the equipment such as ... 

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