Registered Civil Engineer (Port & Waterway) flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Design vessel

The largest or governing ship a port facility must accommodate; its length overall, beam, draft, and displacement set berth dimensions, channel depth, and structural loads.

Under-keel clearance

Vertical gap between a vessel's keel and the seabed, covering squat, wave response, tide prediction error, and siltation; typically 10-15% of draft with a minimum absolute value.

Squat

Ship sinkage caused by flow acceleration beneath the hull in shallow or confined water; increases with speed squared and is largest when depth-to-draft ratio is small.

Shields parameter

Dimensionless bed shear stress θ = τ/((ρs-ρ)gD); sediment motion begins near a critical value of about 0.05 for uniform sand.

Wave shoaling

Reduction in wavelength and increase in wave height as waves enter shallow water; energy flux is conserved until breaking, when H/d reaches roughly 0.78.

Littoral drift

Longshore sediment transport driven by oblique wave breaking; the CERC formula scales transport with wave height to the 5/2 power times the sine of twice the breaker angle.

Undrained shear strength

Shear strength of saturated fine-grained soil under no drainage, denoted su; measured by UU triaxial, vane shear, or estimated from CPT as qc divided by Nk.

p-y curve

A relationship between soil resistance per unit pile length and lateral pile deflection, used to analyze laterally loaded piles; curves differ by soil type and depth.

Liquefaction screening

Assessment comparing cyclic stress ratio from design earthquake to cyclic resistance ratio from penetration tests; loose saturated sands with low (N1)60 are most vulnerable.

Berthing energy

Kinetic energy absorbed by fenders, E = 0.5·Cs·Md·Vb², where Cs is an eccentricity factor, Md the virtual mass, and Vb the berthing velocity.

Apron width

The strip between the quay edge and the first shed or stack area; must accommodate crane rails, truck lanes, and container handling equipment.

Bollard spacing

Longitudinal distance between mooring bollards along a quay, commonly 15-30 m; set by vessel size, mooring line angles, and line load limits.

Cutter suction dredger

Dredger that cuts stiff or compacted soils with a rotating cutter head and pumps the loosened material as a slurry, often directly to a reclamation area.

Trailing suction hopper dredger

Self-propelled vessel that drags suction pipes along the seabed to load loose sediments into hoppers, then transports and discharges them at a disposal or reclamation site.

Swell factor

Ratio of loosened dredged or excavated volume to in-situ volume; roughly 1.05-1.15 for sand and 1.2-1.4 for clay, used for transport and fill quantity estimates.

Hudson formula

Empirical equation for rubblemound armor weight W = ρr·H³/(KD·Δ³·cotθ), where KD depends on armor unit type and acceptable damage level.

Breakwater overtopping

Wave runup and splash passing over a breakwater crest; controlled by crest height, armor slope, and wave conditions, and affects harbor tranquility and safety.

Lock chamber dimensions

Usable length, width, and depth of a lock chamber, set by design vessel size plus clearance for fenders, mooring, and water-level variation during filling.

Ship lift

A mechanical structure that raises or lowers vessels in a caisson or counterweighted chamber between water levels; efficient for large lifts but limited by chamber size.

CEMT navigation class

European classification of inland waterways by vessel dimensions, defining minimum channel depth, width, and bridge clearance for each class.

River training works

Structures such as groynes, training walls, and revetments that guide flow, maintain a navigable low-flow channel, and protect banks from erosion.

Flow-duration curve

Cumulative frequency plot of discharge versus percentage of time exceeded; used to assess low-flow availability and navigable discharge for inland waterways.

Jack-up platform

Mobile offshore unit with legs lowered to the seabed to lift the hull above water, providing a stable work platform for piling, drilling, or construction in shallow water.

Driveability analysis

Wave-equation modeling of pile driving that predicts blow counts, stresses, and refusal risk for a given hammer and soil profile before construction.

Earned value management

Project control method comparing planned value, earned value, and actual cost; cost performance index CPI = EV/AC and schedule performance index SPI = EV/PV.

Weather window

Period when sea state and wind are within workable limits for a marine operation; workability limits depend on the vessel and activity, such as crane or diving work.

Environmental impact assessment

Formal process of scoping, baseline study, impact prediction, mitigation design, and monitoring for major port, dredging, or waterway projects before approval.

London Convention

International treaty regulating disposal of wastes at sea; dredged material disposal requires sediment testing and permits under the convention and its protocol.

MARPOL

International convention preventing pollution from ships, covering oil, noxious liquids, sewage, garbage, and air emissions including sulfur limits.

Benefit-cost ratio

Ratio of discounted project benefits to discounted costs; a value above one indicates economic viability, and incremental ratios rank mutually exclusive alternatives.

Life-cycle cost

Total discounted cost of construction, operation, maintenance, repair, and residual value over a project's life; used to compare long-lived marine infrastructure alternatives.

Professional seal

Engineer's stamp on drawings and reports certifying competence and responsibility; applied only within the engineer's qualified area of practice and jurisdiction.