Impact of Proposed Runway Extension at Little Rock Municipal Airport on Water-Surface Elevations and Navigation Conditions in Arkansas River

A 2-D numerical hydrodynamic model was coupled with a 2-D numerical sediment transport model to predict the impact of a proposed runway extension on water-surface elevations in the Arkansas River at Little Rock, Arkansas. The hydrodynamic results were also used as input data to a ship simulator to predict the impact of the proposed runway on navigation characteristics. The proposed runway will have a noticeable effect on the water-surface profile in the study reach. However, the increased head loss will not violate the 0.5 ft-maximum swellhead criterion. Velocities at and downstream of the construction will increase approximately 1 fps, or at least 10 percent. While there are some effects on navigation observed due to the proposed project, there does not appear to be any significant increase in navigation difficulty due to the runway extension. Keywords: Finite element method, Navigation, and Sediment transport.