The Channel Depth Maintenance Research in the Middle Reaches of Yangtze River Based on the Cost-effectiveness Balance

Channel dredging is an important means to ensure the safe navigation of ships. Besides the maximizing channel capacity, many factors should be taken into account in channel depth including the dredging operation cost. At present, the channel depth maintenances are mostly formulated according to experience and relating standards, so the abundant dredging depth results in much invalid maintenance operations. Through the factors affecting ship draft, shallow waterway effects, risk theory and channel maintenance costs, we constructed a stochastic possibility simulation model to simulate the channel depth and probability of ship grounding in the middle reaches of Yangtze River based on Monte Carlo method. In this paper, we present an optimal depth calculating model on the cost-effectiveness balance of channel dredging maintenance. The method has high practicability for port channel maintenance and management and can provide a theoretical basis for the follow-up research.