Cardiff Bay Barrage: sedimentation aspects Available to Purchase

The Queen Alexandra Dock channel, which provides deep-water access to the Docks, had always required maintenance dredging. Construction of the barrage would fundamentally alter the flow regime in the channel and over the intertidal banks adjacent to the channel. What impact would this changed flow regime have on the channel's sediment regime? Studies comprising the collection of a site measurement programme; a physical model; laboratory tests to determine the physical properties of the sediment; and a numerical calculation, were all used to determine the potential impact. The findings of these studies, which were critical to the success of the scheme, interestingly suggested that accumulation of deposited sediment in the Queen Alexandra Channel would be no worse and possibly better than the existing pre-Barrage situation.