CORPUS CHRISTI SHIP CHANNEL IMPROVEMENT PROJECT -
VESSEL HYDRODYNAMIC MODELING FOR INGLESIDE
Corpus Christi, Texas

The Port of Corpus Christi plans to deepen, widen and extend the Corpus Christi Ship Channel and diversify its cargo base. These initiatives will create vessel fleet changes to the channel by adding more fully laden tankers, container ships, and LNG ships. The channel improvement project includes the construction of a rock breakwater, serving as an ecosystem restoration feature, to protect and enhance existing seagrass and provide shoreline erosion protection. To better ensure the structure will be designed to withstand the forces associated with passing vessels and to evaluate the impacts the new channel attributes may have on existing coastal structures and shorelines adjacent to the ship channel, the Port requested a study of vessel hydrodynamics.

Vessel hydrodynamic modeling was performed with the Vessel Hydrodynamics Longwave Unsteady (VH-LU) numerical model. The model was developed by Coast & Harbor Engineering, Inc. (CHE) as part of a federal model development grant from the U.S. Civilian Research and Development Foundation, and calculates detailed ship-induced water surface elevation fluctuations and current velocities within a variable-bathymetry domain. Tanker hull geometries were developed that are typical of those found in the Corpus Christi Ship Channel. Containership and LNG vessel hulls that are typical of those proposed for the port expansion were also developed and used in the model to simulate the proposed vessel traffic moving in the Corpus Christi Ship Channel with varying speed and draft.

The methods applied in the study provide a means of determining relative impacts of channel modifications and new vessel traffic. Local impacts were determined for seagrass beds, shoreline erosion, and stability of existing and proposed structures under the existing and post-expansion conditions. Modeling results were also used to evaluate accurate design criteria for proposed structures. Changes in water surface elevations and current velocities generated by the vessel were evaluated for existing and post-project conditions, and implications for design criteria for bulkheads, rubble-mound breakwaters, and rubble-mound revetments were addressed.