A new approach to narrow waterways traffic routing with potential flow theory and CFD

Navigational planning is crucial for safety of navigation in narrow waterways, both for the ships and the environment. The movement of the ships is very complex in narrow waterways, which are in curved form with surface current and counter-deep current. A TSS (traffic separation scheme), a maritime traffic management route system, has been established worldwide in most narrow waterways and turning points close to shore. The ships plan their routes under the TSS in the region they navigate. In this research, the aim of this study is to determine the optimum route by taking into account the depth, width, water flow rate, movement of the water in curved regions, and upper and lower currents in order to create proposed TSS model. For this purpose, a region with turning points in the Bosphorus and where accidents are frequent were selected. The two-dimensional potential flow theory was used to determine the velocity and pressure distribution at surface in the region where the accidents were intense, and results of the velocity and pressure distributions obtained with CFD were verified against the analytical data obtained from the potential flow theory. As a result of the study, it has been revealed that the data obtained using the two-dimensional potential flow theory and CFD are compatible with each other, and the flow dynamics obtained using the potential flow theory and/or CFD can be used to determine the dynamic TSS to navigable waterways, channels and rivers in worldwide. •Narrow waterways traffic routing has been analysed analytical.•It has been used two-dimension Potential Flow Theory, and CFD.•This study provides a general solution for vessel accidents caused by traffic routing.•Since this method considers topography, currents, and eddies, it provides great advantages over previous methods.•This method is suitable for any narrow waterway, channel, river, etc. applicable to TSS in places.