West Access Channel Realignment Atchafalaya River. Hydraulic Model Investigation

摘要

The entrance of the West Access Channel has required maintenance dredging to maintain flow distribution to the West Atchafalaya Protection Levee. The channel has had a history of shoaling to the extent that the amount of flow through the channel has been significantly reduced. Due to channel alignment and length, the flows in the channel are normally too small to move the sediment through the channel. A 1:120-horizontal- and 1:80-vertical-scale movable-bed model was used to study the effects of relocating the entrance about 2.7 miles upstream of the existing entrance on the sediment load entering the West Access Channel. This configuration exited the Atchafalaya River at approximately 90 deg and decreased the length of the channel about 1.5 miles. The model results indicated the new alignment would reduce the amount of bed material entering the channel to almost zero. (fr)