Sediment Classification
Deployment Tool
The tropical regions have a very unique situation with high flow rate of water bodies due to concentration of the annual monsoons to within one quarter thereby causing excessive siltation. The enhanced siltation causes disruption in various applications like the water resource management, inland water transport, heavy movement across shallow water bodies and more. The obvious solution to this problem is removal of the silt, however, the critical pre-requisite for de-siltation is to ascertain the precise nature of the silt. Sediment classification in the tropical region has its unique challenges due to the sub-optimal performance of the sonars that will be deployed for the purpose. Precise sediment classification can, not only facilitate effective de-siltation but also ensure deeper understanding of the siltation process to attempt prevention of siltation. Acoustic capacity and capability building is a critical first step to ensure effective sediment classification for varied applications.
The fresh water is a critical resource for human survival and well being. Typically, reservoirs and lakes are used to store freshwater during the dry seasons and these also act as buffers to minimise flooding of the down plains during the monsoons. Siltation of these storage dams causes disruptions and it is well known that in the tropical regions the siltation is of the order of 50%. Rapid urbanization is causing massive shrinking of the water bodies and increasing demand for water resources. Thus,effective de-siltation is an urgent requirement.
The river systems in the tropical regions have very high siltation rates and that is extremely detrimental for safe navigation of the vessels. Ensuring navigability of the waterways throughout the year is a critical requirement and understanding of the entire siltation process will facilitate planning of the entire IWT project. Regular de-siltation is an expensive preposition and could impact the viability of the project, thus modelling & simulation to understand the siltation process and also optimal planning of the de-siltation effort is an essential first step. Such mega-projects need to look at multiple other dimensions of safety, security and sustainability.
The water bodies act as barriers for deployment of vehicles for both military and non-military purposes. Post monsoon or otherwise, there are shallow water bodies formed that disrupt transportation and it is important to assess the sediment to ensure smooth flow of large columns of vehicle particularly military convoys. Precise sediment classification can allow assessment of the bottom type and plan movement of such large deployments across the water bodies.
- Comprehensive Database Management System.
- Complete hand holding right from selection of the equipment to measurement & analysis tools and the strategic vision formulation.
- Capability and capacity building, right from policy, technology & innovation and human resource development.
- Automation of the entire process, to minimize subjectivity due to human factor.
- Application specific measurement & analysis tools with state-of-the-art signal process algorithms.
- Documentation support on strategy, bench marking, SOPs and analysis reports.
- Automation of the entire process, to minimize subjectivity due to human factor.
- Application specific measurement & analysis tools with state-of-the-art signal process algorithms.
- Documentation support on strategy, bench marking, SOPs and analysis reports.
- Comprehensive Database Management System.
- Complete hand holding right from selection of the equipment to measurement &analysis tools and the strategic vision formulation.
- Capability and capacity building, right from policy,technology & innovation and human resource development.
Multiple M&S exercises will have to be undertaken to address the varied aspects like the Underwater Channel for ensuring effective Sonar performance, Sediment Classification and the Siltation Process.
The M&S exercises for the varied aspects will have to be validated using field experimental real data to be able to derive the most optimal model. The field validation will have to be planned very carefully to derive maximum advantage as it is extremely cost intensive.
The application specific measurement and analysis will have to be undertaken, once the M&S exercise is field validated. The application specific study will not only involve operational requirements but also allow well informed policy formulation based on local ground realities.
The tropical littoral waters ensure sub-optimal sonar performance for any acoustic survey deployed for the purpose. The diurnal and seasonal variation in the surface parameters and also the sound velocity profile ensure random fluctuations in the underwater propagation of the acoustic signal deployed for such surveys.
The siltation is a gradual process that accumulates the silt from the high grounds based on the flow of the water. The precise assessment of the multiple layers of the silt can facilitate deeper understanding of the siltation process that will allow effective prevention methods.
The conventional dredging methods deployed for de-siltation are extremely expensive, making them nonviable. There are multiple dredging methods available today with a very wide range of cost, but these are highly sensitive to the type of the silt, so precise sediment classification becomes the key. The water bodies will have a unique sediment type, spatially across the entire bottom, thus deployment of the appropriate dredging method could optimize the cost.
The logistics cost of the disposal of the de-silted material is a bigger challenge. Water bodies with large area can have very prohibitive cost of disposal and also the quantity of material can be extremely huge to be able to practically dump them in any location. The precise understanding of the silt can ensure utilization of the silt meaningfully, to be able to make it viable.