The Brazos Island Harbor Project, south Texas, has been authorized for navigation channel improvements, which include deepening of the Brownsville Ship Channel from 38 ft below mean low water (mlw) to 42 ft below mlw and channel widening. The 19-mile-long Brownsville Ship Channel begins in the Gulf of Mexico, transects the Laguna Madre, and continues landlocked to Brownsville, TX. This study involved the use of the vertically integrated two-dimensional numerical model RMA-2V to simulate the Brownsville Ship Channel and the lower Laguna Madre. RMA-2V was used to produce the hydrodynamics (water levels and velocities) for existing and three alternative channel designs. These hydrodynamic conditions were used in a ship simulator study. Historical velocity (direction and speed) measurements taken at approximately hourly intervals during the period 15-18 July 1980 at several stations were used to verify RMA-2V. Water level measurements from four tide gages were also available for the same period to facilitate model verification. While some difficulties occurred in reproducing measured water level responses in the interior of the Laguna Madre, good numerical model simulation of velocity directions and magnitudes was obtained in the Brazos Island Harbor Project area. Because the Laguna Madre exhibits large response to wind forcing, some of the inaccuracies in water level verification were suspected to be the result of the sparsity of wind speed and direction data in the prototype system for the model verification. The verified RMA-2V model was operated with a high-amplitude diurnal (spring) tide with a temporally varying southeast wind of 4 to 20 mph. The wind was phased to increase both the ebb and flood velocities. With these tidal and wind conditions, RMA-2V simulated the hydrodynamics for existing and three a lternative channel designs. The peak ebb and flood currents for each design were saved as computer files for use in a separate ship simulator study.


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    Title :

    Numerical Modeling of Hydrodynamics: Brazos Island Harbor Project, Texas (Brownsville Ship Channel)



    Published in:

    Publication date :

    1990


    Size :

    4930193


    Type of media :

    Report


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English



    Classification :