The efficiency of curved jetties in Bay of Santos – SP: numerical modeling

ABSTRACT Nowadays, Port of Santos is the largest in Latin America, and it is undergoing a process of deepening of its access channel and, as its final target, is expected to attain 17 m. A considerable increase in the maintenance dredging volume is expected, particularly for the section of the maritime sandbar that is, currently, only maintained by dredging. Consequently, this study employed numerical modeling to propose an efficient layout for two curved, current-guiding jetties for the transposition of the maritime sandbar of Port of Santos navigation channel, and it’s evaluated their efficiency in maintaining depths throughout the channel. Therefore, it was used only the hydrodynamic model of Mike 21 to compare the results with the physical modeling realized in the same simulation conditionals. The results indicate, in both approaches, the current velocities increased with the proposal jetties. Thus, the accomplished study indicates that the adoption of permanent constructions for transposition of the maritime sandbar of the Port of Santos is clearly feasible and it could constitute a more economically attractive option for maintaining depths of 17 m than the current one.