When a large ship enters a port the vessel is navigated by the pilots instead of the captain due to safety reasons. The final part of the berthing manoeuver is the most critical and consists of the vessel moving laterally towards the quay wall. At this point the vessel does not use its own propulsion force anymore but is pushed by the tugboats. During this lateral berthing manoeuver a resistance force can be noticed counteracting the lateral manoeuver to the quay which acts as hydraulic damping. A large force is needed to overcome this hydraulic damping which is known as the water cushion effect. There are a handful of circumstances that are suspected to enhance the effect of hydraulic damping, but a substantiated conclusion is not yet drawn. To determine the mechanisms causing the hydraulic damping during ship berthing, field experiments in the Port of Rotterdam are carried out and analysed. In addition, a one-dimensional theoretical model is developed to simulate the field experiments and investigate the flow behaviour around a berthing ship.

Surname is known for its rich colonial history and its export of coffee, cocoa and sugar, produced on plantations. Workforce was pulled away from agriculture industry when bauxite became an important export product which mines got exhausted recently. Nowadays, mining of minerals such as oil and gold is important for the economy of Suriname. The economy is therefore very sensitive for global price fluctuations resulting in instability, raising a relevant question on searching for more sustainable resources fort he economy to built on. Tourism has proven great potentials to contribute to a growth of economic development for countries. Cruise tourism is one of the fastest growing components of the tourism sector and is expected to continue even further. Due to its geographic position, pleasant climate, cultural and ecological attractions, Suriname has great potential to cherry-pick from the benefits of the rising popularity of different cruise tourism markets. The government has the ambition to increase the number of annual tourists by investing in many projects such as the improvement of infrastructure and river dredging, but currently has no sufficient port facilities to accommodate potentials of the growth in cruise passengers. Therefore, the objective of this study is to determine a feasible and socially desirable way to develop a cruise port in Paramaribo. From this study, it is concluded that a cruise port in Paramaribo may be feasible and contribute to a more stable economy in Suriname. The port could be positioned at best near the city centre. It is estimated that the significantly large investment needed to build on shore facilities are not directly earned back from passenger onshore expenditures, but expenditures of cruise operators for on-board provisions and other indirect or induced benefits are very promising. The design is made for a convertible terminal lay-out, which incorporation may add value and contribute to other urban projects increasing the tourism potential for Paramaribo as a whole. The successfulness of this project is dependent on the execution of other urban projects, such as dredging of the Suriname River to be able to include cruise ship handling for ships with deeper draughts, infrastructural improvements to prevent traffic congestion and urban rehabilitation projects to increase attractiveness for cruise passengers and encourage them to revisit Suriname. The willingness from cruise operators and residents, investments and governmental participation is also crucial, in which fund raising and further specification of a project plan timeline and a more detailed analysis of costs estimations are considered as the next step after this research.

Quay structures play an important role in society. How much load these structures can withstand however is not certain. This MSc thesis contains insight into the load capacity of the old Amazonehaven and the current SIF quay structures. Both are quay structures which use a combined sheet pile wall, a reinforced concrete relieving platform, M.V.-piles, and two rows of bearing piles. The objective of this MSc thesis was to determine the load capacity of the structures, the models should therefore be as close to the actual conditions as possible. For that reason no safety and/or material factors have been applied throughout this MSc thesis. The approach is shown below.
A literature study was performed to gain insight into the areas of interest that needed to be studied. This theory in combination with a review of the structures led to the critical cross sections of the respective structures. These cross sections were then modelled with conventional design methods (Blum and D-Sheet Piling). The Blum method determined the individual contributions of several aspects (loads, water, soil) to the horizontal stress distribution along the combined sheet pile wall and calculated the reaction forces using a set of boundary conditions. Within D-Sheet Piling the relieving platform was modelled by removing it, the loads that acted on it, and the soil that rested on it. The last method that was applied was a FEM software (Plaxis 2D). The FEM models were validated in three steps: First, by comparing their results to that of the conventional methods, it was found that the results of the conventional methods were within ca. 30% of the FEM results. Second, by comparing the results to actual field data, here the results showed both deviation and similarities, these deviations could however be explained. Lastly, by critically assessing the models to ensure that certain aspects were incorporated into the models correctly, this resulted in uncertainty about drained or undrained soil conditions for the thicker clay layers. The main function of both quay structures was the storage of certain goods, for that reason the only aspect that was not constant in the test loading set up was the magnitude of the primary surcharge. Both geotechnical and structural failure were taken into consideration for the quay structures.
The results of the FEM models showed that neither of the structures had failed at their design loading conditions. For the Amazonehaven it was found that the magnitude of the primary surcharge at the first failure of the model was relatively close to that of the design loading conditions, it was incited by the exceedance of the geotechnical bearing capacity of the M.V.-piles. The first failure of the SIF model occurred at a surcharge that was more than 4 times the magnitude of the design loading conditions, it was incited by the exceedance of the normal stress capacity of the M.V.-piles.

Constructing a dam across a tidal basin has alway been a long-term integral solution to many water related problems of the surrounding area such as flooding, river control and fresh water storage. However, immense challenges are accompanied with the closure works of large basins. This research treats the closure strategy to close the Gulf of Khambhat in India. The project is known as "Kalpasar", which aims to create of a fresh water reservoir in the Gulf of Khambhat by constructing a 35 km dam across the estuary. The Kalpasar project
has been on the Indian Governments agenda since 1986. Royal Haskoning was involved in the pre-feasibility study, which was presented in 1998. However, due to an alignment change to a more northern position, earlier proposed closure work designs are now considered out of date.
To avoid irrelevance of this research through time and assist the Kalpasar development project with optimizing a new design for the closure works, this research treats the development of a fundamental parametric optimization tool to quickly perform a first-order evaluation of possible closure strategies on costs.
The tool as a product along with case results are delivered to the Kalpasar development project for further design optimization.
Closing the tidal basin involves closing a certain wet cross section along the chosen dam alignment through which large tidal currents penetrate caused by tidal differences up to 11 m. Complexity is caused by increasing tidal flow velocities due to increasing constriction of the wet cross section during the closure. The developed optimization tool can evaluate and compare six pre-programmed strategies to close a multi-sectional wet cross section in time on costs of three fundamental design requirement or "cost factors": Required dam material, bed protection and equipment. Using a multi-sectional storage model to compute the flow velocities in the gap, the channels and tidal flats can be individually modeled after which they are linked as a system. The model reacts as a system to changes in flow area by closing certain cross sections (a channel or a tidal flat). The individual cross sections can be closed strategically by defining their closure method (horizontal, vertical or sudden), execution phase and construction capacity. These are called "strategic input parameters". Defined for all sections, they determine the closure sequence of the system in time. Optimization is achieved when the strategic input parameters define a closing sequence which minimizes the combined cost of all cost factors.
Subsequent to the storage model, three computational models are introduced to quantify the required dam material, bed protection and equipment. Based on earlier research, the material model utilizes only quarried rock for gradual closures and sluice caissons for sudden closures. The equipment model utilizes large dump trucks for horizontal closures and ships or a temporary cable-way/bridge system for vertical closures. The construction capacity is linked to material and bed protection models, since both design requirements are time dependent. Increasing construction capacity can therefore decrease these requirements.
Since subsequent models largely depend on the flow velocity, an attempt to validate and calibrate the storage model was performed using results from previous research and a 2D-H Delft3D model. Deviations with respect to the Delft3D model were significantly large (factor 2-3), because storage models can only be utilized if the basin size and the remaining gap are small (usability limits). Therefore, calibration was performed by introducing an artificial contraction factor to compensate for the error in the flow velocity. An exponential relation was determined linking the error to the constriction percentage of the gap. With increasing constriction percentage, the error decreased due to increasing validity of the storage model usability limits. The artificial contraction factor can be used to optimize the closure of the Gulf of Khambhat. However, for general use, the model should be calibrated to each specific site.
Case study results show that using multiple cross sections to model the bathymetry with respect to a single cross section, the optimal strategy can change from fully vertical to a combination of horizontal and vertical with a specific capacity. Utilizing the developed model for the Kalpasar case is therefore recommendedbecause the complex bathymetry creates many possible strategies and can’t be reliably modeled with single cross-sectional models. The strategy that showed the most potential for further optimization is: First closing the tidal flats horizontally by forward dumping of rocks, while closing the channels up to 40% of their depth with dumping ships after which the remaining gap is closed vertically by a cable-way or bridge system. This strategy is commonly suggested by existing literature, thereby increasing reliability and validity of the optimization model.
A second case study showed negative effects of increasing construction capacity on the total cost. However, these case results are based on assumed costs and cost functions for equipment, which should be verified by contractors first. Bed protection requirements did decrease significantly by increasing construction capacity, showing potential for development of high capacity closure equipment to avoid these costs. Further future development should focus on vertical closure equipment to decrease both material and bed protection costs.
To conclude the recommendations, more case studies should be performed to quantify influences of parameters already included in the model, such as the permeability of the dam, the presence of a tidal power facility and the use of a sudden caisson closure to relieve the final closure. Secondly, further validation of the storage model is essential to generate more reliable results. Furthermore, research should be performed into cost functions of several existing or new high capacity equipment for vertical closures, relating costs to construction capacity to improve usability of the optimization model.