MECHANICS OF SHOALING AT THE HOUSTON SHIP CHANNEL’S BAYPORT FLARE

Abstract

The Houston Ship Channel (HSC) is one of the most vital and busiest deep-draft navigation channels in the United States. In 2019 in partnership with the Port of Houston, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Galveston District (SWG) completed a five-year award-winning mega feasibility study for the HSC Engineering Channel Improvement Project (ECIP). As part of the 2019 HSC ECIP Feasibility Report Environmental Impact Statement (FREIS) and, through ongoing and repeated maintenance events, the Bayport Flare (Flare) was noted as an area of concern due to chronic shoaling that disrupts traffic and requires continuous dredging. The Flare is the intersection of the HSC and Bayport Ship Channel (BSC). This study seeks to (1) improve our understanding of the source and mechanisms for generation of shoaling and (2) develop and assess conceptual alternative countermeasures for shoaling mitigation. To assess and isolate the sources and mechanics of shoaling in the Flare, a multiple layer approach was applied, which included both field and numerical investigations. A workshop was held to develop alternative countermeasures based on the understanding of system dynamics. Alternatives will (1) be optimized based on cost-benefit considerations; (2) have no-adverse impact on navigation nor require revision, to the point practicable, of ongoing ship simulation studies; and (3) may be structural, non-structural or OandM based.