E - proceedings of the 36 th IAHR World Congress 28 June – 3 July, 2015, The Hague, the Netherlands A REVIEW OF THE NAVI GABILITY MODELING FO R INLAND WATERWAYS ANDERSON L. FRIGO ( 1) , TOBIAS B. BLENINGER (2 ) (1) Federal University of Parana , Curitiba , Brazil , [email protected] (2) Federal University of Parana, Curitiba, Brazil, [email protected] ABSTRACT Among all Brazilian waterways the Paraguay River highlights as one of the most important. It is approximately 1 30 0 kilometers long and links the interior of South Amer ica to the deep - water ports in Argentina and Uruguay, enabling the efficient flow of raw material as grain and ore. Nevertheless, the potential of the Paraguay River waterway is not fully explored . One of the main factors contributing to this scenario is t he lack of operational methodologies and field surveys. The navigation is performed using only bathymetric data and the expertise of the sailors, which is not consistent with modern, competitive and safe waterways. Therefore, Brazilian government started a project to revitalize the Paraguay waterway, comprising the river and its most important tributaries. This study presents the initial investigation to assess the navigability of the Paraguay River. Initially previous works related to hydrodynamic modeling and operational methodologies used worldwide were analyzed. It was identified that there is a lack of researches on this topic, sparse on specific problems and the methodologies used are often concepts of marine navigation and approach channels. Initial s urveys for Paraguay River are described and discussed. Large - scale field measurements are necessary to determine the navigation potential of the river, hence longitudinal bathymetry, velocity profile, sediment sampling, hydrologic parameters of the watersh ed and vessel characteristics were measured. Given the large extent of the study area the main difficulty was to determine whether the samples were sufficient to characterize the spatial and temporal characteristics of the river and which is the most appro priate hydrodynamic model to be applied. Also, to better evaluate the navigability condition it will be necessary do develop a model that couple the rivers, vessels and flow characteristics to assess the motion of boats on the waterway . Keywords: Inland waterway, navi gability, hydrodynamic modeling, Paraguay River. 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Importance of waterways The globalization of the economy, associated with increased international competitiveness, is pressing and discarding competitors with high internal costs for shipping and handling of raw materials and finished products. In this context, water transport is a k ey factor, inducing planned development, linking regions and providing safe and economical handling of materials, products and people . Another relevant aspect is that only waterway s feature a multipurpose aspect, as the river also operates as supply of water, hydroelectricity generation and prevention of floods (Alfredini and Arasaki, 2009). Given the vast expanse of inland waterways in Brazil , deployment, maintenance and improvement of waterways works represent a factor of prime importance to expansion and diversification of the transport matrix. Investments in research and infrastructure are beyond the flow of goods or movement of people, this analysis represent a strategic long - term planning of major importance for economic and logistic issue s. Regarding road and rail modes, water transport is the most economical mode to shift large volumes of cargo with low unit value, such as grain and ore. However, the poles of origin or destination of the loads should be located near a waterway, which can stimulate the production and storage of goods in marginal bands, adding density to the economic system. Whenever combined participation with another transport mode, it is essential that the distances traveled by rivers are higher than the distance covered by other modes of transportation . As a result, the utilization of waterways must be inserted into larger programs, considering the exploitation of mineral resources, agricultural or industrial development (Alfredini and Arasaki, 2009). According to the Bra zilian National Agency of Waterway Transportation (ANTAQ, 2012) Brazil has one of the largest waterway networks in the world, about 27,000 km in the sailing conditions, with potential for expansion to over 15,000 km, with a total estimated navigable mesh 4 3,000 km, highlighting the waterways of the Madeira - Amazonas, Tocantins - Araguáia, São Francisco, Paraguay - Paraná and Tietê - Paraná rivers. Despite all the advantages of waterway transportation, only 13% of the total volume of cargo was transported by this mode in Brazil. The road transport accounted for 52%, 30% by railroads, 4.6% by pipeline s and 0.4% by air (Minist é rio dos Transportes, 2012). In the United States and the European Union the percentage of the waterways exceeds 25%. Germany, for example, ha s an economically efficient network of waterways. The transport capacity in waterways is approximately 65 billion tons per year, equivalent to 80% of transport capacity by rail. The German Federal waterways 1 E - proceedings of the 36 th IAHR World Congress, 28 June – 3 July, 2015, The Hague, the Netherlands accumulate a total of 7,300 kilometers and are an important part of the European waterways network (Bundesanstalt f ü r Wasserbau, 2007). A comparison betwee n modes was made by Costa ( 2001 ), in relation to the carrying capacity , life span , implementation costs and s ocial and environmental impacts, presente d in Table 01 . Table 1. Comparison between the main modes of transport. A NALYZED W ATERWAYS R AILROADS H IGHWAYS FEATURE C ARRYING 1 typical barge convoy (6 barges) 132 wagons bulk 234 bulk trucks 1 CAPACITY L IFE SPAN 1 barge = 50 years 1 train = 30 years 1 truck = 10 years I MPLEMENTATION 1 km = US$ 34,000 1 km = US$ 1.4 million 1 km = US$ 440,000 COST S OCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL 1 km = US$ 0.23/100 ton/km 1 km = US$ 0. 74 /100 ton/km 1 km = US$ 3. 20 /100 ton/km 2 COST Research in coastal and open water navigation are broad and diverse, e.g. , hydrodynamic modeling, evaluation of traffic, optimization of the vessel s and simulators. However, this material cannot always be applied to inland navigation. This study investigated various researches related to hydrodynamic modeling of vessels and rivers to be applied on the Paraguay River . The assessment study of the Paraguay w aterway requires a large set of fie ld surveys and measurements, as bathymetry, flow discharge, velocity profiles, sediment analysis. The data collected in the first survey at Paraguay River and its main tributaries will also be described. This data must be analyzed to determine the most appropriate hydrodynamic modeling technique to be applied , whi ch in turn will provide the best results in the evaluation of the river navi gability. 1.2 Feasibility of the Paraguay w aterway Few watercourses u nder natural conditions presents features that allow safe and continuous navigation , capable of carrying out the transport of cargo on a commercial state (Almeida and Briggheti, 1997) and the Paraguay River is an example . However, even these waterways require frequent follow - up studies and maintenance to assess the continuous conditions f or navigation. The study of waterways, either on the management or technical procedures, is essentially a multidisciplinary task, involving areas of geo - referencing, hydrology, hydrodynamic modeling, geotechnical and hydraulic works, in addition to general issues of planning and logistics. The waterways management becomes even more complex when corrections to the safety of navigation are necessary, but due to natural states of watercourse s, critical points to navigation (e . g ., narrow channels, sharp bends, bridge spans, and gaps ). These critical sections require a detailed analysis and modeling, to preserve both vessels as the navigation channels. All engineering measures to improve navigability are planned in order to optimize the hydraulic system and to mai ntain the natural morphology of rivers , always considering the traffic requirements and the minimization of environmental impacts ( Bundesanstalt f ü r Wasserbau, 2007). Among some of the key technical aspects that must be considered in waterways, can be cite d: a nalysis of hydraulic and morphodynamic characteristics of the channels; hydraulic structures of waterways; o ptimization of the operation and management of the channels; i nteraction vessel - waterway ; traffic system analysis and environmental needs. Previous studies conducted by the Brazilian National Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport (DNIT) state that the Paraguay River, in its natural state, can be considered quite satisfactory for navigation, however, needs to receive maintenance dredging in s ome places during the dry season to ensure their navigability. The commercial shipping in the Brazilian portion of the Paraguay River occurs mainly between Corumbá and Porto Murtinho. The tributaries of the Paraguay River are more difficult to commercial t ransport due to silting and bed changes. It was proposed the execution of dredging, removal of rock and curves fixes on the Paraguay River and main tributaries , forming a deep channel between the cities of Cáceres, Brazil, and Nueva Palmira, Uruguay. Howev er, given the environmental impacts involved in this proposal, the federal government is studying alternatives with less impact for implementation. T