A&M Dredging Short Courses Increase Expertise
Dr. Robert Randall has scheduled the 39th Dredging Engineering Short Course and Cutter Suction Dredge Simulator Course for January 2010 at Texas A&M University.
The short course to be held January 11 through 15 is designed to educate dredge operators in the technicalities of planning and carrying out dredging operations. A maximum of nine participants will be accepted for the course and they will receive approximately three continuing education units (CEU’s).
The curriculum includes the following:
Monday: fluid mechanics; centrifugal pumps; pump affinity laws; pump cavitation; pump performance characteristics and system head curves; sediment transport in pipes; geotechnical mechanics physical and engineering properties dike design; dredging equipment; mechanical dredges sediment re-suspension; welcoming icebreaker.
Tuesday: estimating dredging costs; basic dredge laws; practical dredge hydraulics; small hydraulic dredges; cutters and cutter suction dredge operation; hopper dredges and dredge control systems; dredging lab/geotechnical lab.
Wednesday: prediction of the fate of dredged material placed in open water; demonstration of open water disposal models; dredging case study; hydrographic surveying and positioning equipment; beach nourishment; density and production meters; geotextile container systems; dredging lab/geotechnical lab.
Thursday: management strategies and framework for environmental evaluations; capping and confined disposal of dredged material; philosophy and economic aspects of dredging contaminated sediments; dredged material testing procedures and evaluation of testing results; EPA and the environmental aspects of dredged material disposal; port perspective of environmental dredging issues; environmental question and answer panel; dredging lab/geotechnical lab; banquet.
Friday (half day): design considerations for creating and restoring wetlands using dredged material; cost estimating of dredging projects; beneficial uses of dredged material; enhanced settling of suspended solids; certificate presentation.
The visiting faculty include experts from the fields covered in the curriculum. They include: Ray Bergeron president Cable Arm Inc; Dr. Donald F. Hayes UNOCAL/BORSF Professor of Civil Engineering University of Louisiana at Lafayette; Peter S. deJong president Digital Automation & Control Systems Inc.; William J. Wetta II P.E. president and CEO Dredging Supply Company; Jack Fowler Geotec Associates; Tom L. Erb Research Engineer Thermo Fisher; Chris R. Ransome president CRA Inc.; David Simonelli vice president Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company; Jarrell Smith Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory Engineering Research and Development Laboratory Vicksburg Mississippi Dr. Ram K. Mohan P.E. partner Anchor QEA LLC.; Roger Santiago Remediation Technologies Program Environment Canada Downsview Ontario Canada; Michael R. Palermo P.E. Michael Palermo Consulting; Craig Vogt P.E. consultant; James Griffin Tri-Flo International Inc.; Dewey W. Hunter Business Manager BASF.
Texas A&M faculty:
Charles P. Aubeny Associate Professor of Civil Engineering Construction Geotechnical & Structural Division Zachry Department of Civil Engineering; Dr. Billy L. Edge P.E. Professor Emeritus Coastal and Ocean Engineering Division Zachry Department of Civil Engineering; Dr. Robert E. Randall P.E. Ford Professor of Ocean & Civil Engineering Coastal and Ocean Engineering Division Zachry Department of Civil Engineering; director Center for Dredging Studies.
Dredge Simulator Course
The Simulator Short course is January 18 through 20 at the Haynes Coastal Engineering Laboratory at Texas A&M and includes lectures and simulation of field dredging situations on simulators donated by A&M alumnus Kevin Williams through his former company Oilfield Electric Marine now LeTourneau Industries. Lecturers are Dr. Robert Randall and Peter deJong.
The course demonstrates the fundamentals of hydraulic dredging and simulates the basic concepts of cavitation deposition of sediment in the pipeline pipeline length limitations pump power limitations and swing winch limitations. Different sediment conditions and channel currents are also simulated. A PC computer is interfaced to actual controls for a cutter suction dredge and students receive a training manual for the course.
Faculty for the simulator course are: Peter S. deJong and Dr. Robert E. Randall.
