Impact of Suspended Sediment Diffusion from the Implementation of Arresting Facilities on Cross-Sea Bridges

Abstract

In order to ensure the safety of bridges and ships, non-navigable channel arresting facilities for ships have become an important part of cross-sea bridges, and the diffusion of suspended sediment caused by their implementation has an impact on seawater quality. Taking the Jintang bridge as an example, a two-dimensional tidal current and sediment numerical model was applied to predict the distribution of suspended sediment diffusion caused by the implementation of arresting facilities, in order to analyze seawater quality. We adopted a new formula for the equivalent roughness method, to generalize the bridge piers, and obtained good results. The results showed that the zone where the SSC (suspended sediment concentration) reached 10 mg/L was concentrated in the area from 4.5 km north to 6.5 km south of the arresting facility, when it was implemented near the western channel. The sea area by the main channel was concentrated within 500 m of the arresting facility. The impact of the implementation of the arresting facility on seawater quality was relatively limited. Only the protected marine area in the Zhenhai Section of the Hangzhou Bay Estuary Coastal Wetland was affected by the suspended sediment from the construction of the western channel.