Study on the Role of Sediment Dike in the Port Construction near Silt Coast

Abstract

With the rapid development of social economy, silt coast exploitation becomes the main approach to make up the imbalance of harbor resources in China, although the inherent problem of sedimentation has not been fully addressed. Due to the special geomorphology and complex sediment transport near silt coastal zone, the sediment dike, as a traditional construction, plays an important role in maintaining port operation and decreasing the siltation. In present paper, using the Guang-Ao harbor district planning project in the south coast of China, different dike arrangement schemes have been compared based on numerical simulations. The sediment transport characteristics and the latent erosion and siltation trend under these schemes have been discussed. Results show the importance and necessity of a proper design of dike near silt coastal zone, which can guide the sand transport path and reduce the possibility of sand intrusion in harbor zone. Present research provides a reference for other engineers to design and optimize the harbor design, especially in zones with high concentration of suspended sediment.