Technical Report Documentation Page 1. Report No.

SWUTC/16/600451-00039-1

2. Government Accession No.

3. Recipient's Catalog No.

4. Title and Subtitle

Waterway System Maintenance Optimization

5. Report Date

August 2016 6. Performing Organization Code

7. Author(s)

Mohammadadel Khodakrami

8. Performing Organization Report No.

Report 600451-00039-1 9. Performing Organization Name and Address Texas A&M Transportation Institute

Texas A&M University System

College Station, Texas 77843-3135

10. Work Unit No. (TRAIS)

11. Contract or Grant No.

DTRT12-G-UTC06 12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address

Southwest Region University Transportation Center

Texas A&M Transportation Institute

Texas A&M University System

College Station, Texas 77843-3135

13. Type of Report and Period Covered

14. Sponsoring Agency Code

15. Supplementary Notes

Supported by a grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation, University Transportation Centers

Program and general revenues from the State of Texas 16. Abstract

Coastal lines, harbors/ports, and inland waterways constitute the marine transportation system, a major component of the United States freight system, carrying a vast majority of foreign imports and exports and a significant amount of

domestic freight. This system needs regular maintenance. US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is in charge of the

waterway system maintenance. However, the limited maintenance budget needs to accommodate a large number of

maintenance requests for dredging and dam repair, etc. The requests often exceed the budget available by much. A

decision facing the USACE management is what projects to fund and how to select them. This research aims at providing

the necessary models and tools to facilitate maintenance decisions at the USACE. The objective is to maximize the overall

system improvement under annual limited budget. The underlying problem can be modeled as a knapsack problem with an

additional constraint that increases the problem complexity. The additional constraints describe the benefit

interdependency of different maintenance projects due to the waterways network effect.

This research tackles the maintenance problem at different levels. First, an integer selection model is developed to

find the optimal set of dredging projects (waterway sediment removal operation) and some heuristics are developed to

provide near-optimal solutions in computationally guaranteed polynomial time. Next, a model is developed to allow partial

dredging. Partial dredging means partially conducting the requested dredging operation. The model is able to determine the

percentage of the dredging depth to fund instead of a zero-one dredging decision for each project.

Further, a stochastic problem is considered regarding to the probabilistic shoaling process. To solve the

probabilistic problem, two methods are designed: an analytical model that takes account of probability in terms of

expected values, and a stochastic optimization approach was developed based on Monte-Carlo simulation.

Finally, the problem is modeled in a multi-modal context where the maintenance decisions are made

simultaneously on dredging and lock/dam improvement. In this multimodal model, the effect of landside modes capacity

is considered comprehensively. All the developed methods are tested with real examples from US marine network and

their performance is approved by comparison to real situation. 17. Key Words

Waterway, Maintenance, Dredging

18. Distribution Statement

No restrictions. This document is available to the

public through NTIS:

National Technical Information Service

5285 Port Royal Road

Springfield, Virginia 22161 19. Security Classif.(of this report)

Unclassified

20. Security Classif.(of this page)

Unclassified

21. No. of Pages

132

22. Price

Form DOT F 1700.7 (8-72) Reproduction of completed page authorized

WATERWAY SYSTEM MAINTENANCE OPTIMIZATION

A Dissertation

by

MOHAMMADADEL KHODAKRAMI

Submitted to the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies of Texas A&M University

in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Chair of Committee, Xiubin B. Wang Committee Members, Yunlong Zhang Luca Quadrifoglio Sivakumar Rathinam Kenneth Ned Mitchell Head of Department, Robin Autenrieth

August 2016

Major Subject: Civil Engineering

Copyright 2016 Mohammadadel Khodakarami

ii

ABSTRACT

Coastal lines, harbors/ports, and inland waterways constitute the marine transportation

system, a major component of the United States freight system, carrying a vast majority

of foreign imports and exports and a significant amount of domestic freight. This system

needs regular maintenance. US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is in charge of the

waterway system maintenance. However, the limited maintenance budget needs to

accommodate a large number of maintenance requests for dredging and dam repair, etc.

The requests often exceed the budget available by much. A decision facing the USACE

management is what projects to fund and how to select them. This research aims at

providing the necessary models and tools to facilitate maintenance decisions at the

USACE. The objective is to maximize the overall system improvement under annual

limited budget. The underlying problem can be modeled as a knapsack problem with an

additional constraint that increases the problem complexity. The additional constraints

describe the benefit interdependency of different maintenance projects due to the

waterways network effect.

This research tackles the maintenance problem at different levels. First, an

integer selection model is developed to find the optimal set of dredging projects

(waterway sediment removal operation) and some heuristics are developed to provide

near-optimal solutions in computationally guaranteed polynomial time. Next, a model is

developed to allow partial dredging. Partial dredging means partially conducting the

requested dredging operation. The model is able to determine the percentage of the

dredging depth to fund instead of a zero-one dredging decision for each project.

iii

Further, a stochastic problem is considered regarding to the probabilistic shoaling

process. To solve the probabilistic problem, two methods are designed: an analytical

model that takes account of probability in terms of expected values, and a stochastic

optimization approach was developed based on Monte-Carlo simulation.

Finally, the problem is modeled in a multi-modal context where the maintenance

decisions are made simultaneously on dredging and lock/dam improvement. In this

multimodal model, the effect of landside modes capacity is considered

comprehensively. All the developed methods are tested with real examples from US

marine network and their performance is approved by comparison to real situation.

iv

DEDICATION

This dissertation is dedicated to my amazing family: my lovely wife Mahsa, my dearest

mother Jila, and my wonderful brother Nima. It would not have happened without their

encouragement, support and love. Finally, I would like to dedicate this dissertation to the

memory of my beloved father Ali, who always inspired and encouraged me to be a better

human.

v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation to my advisor, Dr. Xiubin B.

Wang, for his constant support and guidance during my study at Texas A&M University,

and specially for providing the funding for my entire PhD study. Not only as a mentor,

but also as a friend, he has truly had a profound impact on my life.

I would also like to thank the rest of my advisory committee, Dr. Yunlong

Zhang, Dr. Luca Quadrifoglio, Dr. Sivakumar Rathinam, and Dr. Kenneth Ned Mitchell

for their insightful comments and critical reviews of this dissertation. Particularly, I

would like to thank Dr. Kenneth Ned Mitchell whose keen and bright understanding of

the problem incented me to deepen my research from various perspectives, and his kind

support with time, data, and patience kept my research forward.

I am greatly thankful to the Texas A&M University for providing me an

invaluable research experience.

The author recognizes that support for this research was provided by a grant from

the US Army Corps of Engineers and the Southwest Region University Transportation

Center (SWUTC), which is funded, in part, with general revenue funds from the State of

Texas.

vi

NOMENCLATURE

USACE US Army Corps of Engineers

OD Origin- Destination

SAA Sample Average Approximation

O&M Operation and Maintenance

vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................... II

DEDICATION ..............................................................................