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What is Dredging in Construction?

What is dredging in construction? If you’ve heard about sedimentation in rivers, lakes, and canals, you will quickly understand the dredging process. Simply put, sedimentation is the accumulation of sand, silt, and other debris at the bottom of a water body. Excess build-up of sediments can reduce the depth of water and cause water contamination.

The good news is that one can remove the excess sediments from the bottom or banks of water bodies through dredging. This helps to deepen waterways to allow easy passage of ships. The underwater excavation process is an essential part of waterway construction projects, such as docks, bridges, and underwater tunnels.

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Now, let’s look at how the dredging process works and the various types of dredging.

Dredging Process

Dredging involves the use of specialized equipment known as dredges to remove unwanted sediments. It creates a vacuum to help suck up and pump out dredging material from the bottom of a water body. So how exactly does the dredge work?

Here are the steps of the dredging process.

  1. The operator lowers the dredge boom to the bottom or side of a body of water.
  2. A rotating cutter-bar will then use its teeth to loosen the debris or sediments.
  3. The submersible pump will remove the sediment from the waterway’s bottom.
  4. The dredge will then transport away the sediment and debris for final processing.

Types of Dredging

Here are the most common types of dredging for sediment removal.

  • Suction Dredging: Involves removing loose materials in water by hoppers, dustpans, and hydraulic pipeline plain suction, usually for maintenance projects.
  • Mechanical Dredging: It’s removing loose, hard, or compacted materials by dipper, clamshell, or ladder dredges, both for maintenance and new projects.
  • Suction-Mechanical Dredging: Combines suction and mechanical dredging. It involves the removal of loose or hard, compacted debris by cutter heads.

Equipment Used in Dredging

Here is the equipment commonly used for sediment removal.

  • Auger Suction Dredge: An auger-suction dredge drills holes through the bed to loosen and suck the debris. This type of dredging works best for removing sludge in wastewater treatment plants or where heavy-duty sediment removal is needed.
  • Cutter-Suction Dredge: A cutter-suction dredge has a cutting tool that helps to loosen sediments at the bottom and transport them to the suction apparatus. It helps remove debris from hard surfaces.
  • Plain-Suction Dredge: It’s the most common equipment for dredging. A plain-suction dredge doesn’t contain any tool for cutting or penetrating the bottom of a water body. It only relies on suction to eliminate loose debris.

Aqua Barrier in Dredging

What is dredging in construction? Now that you know the answer to this question, you can quickly take out your waterway construction project with a lot of ease. Assemble all the essential tools, such as the Aqua-Barrier, to help you maintain a dry work site.

Contact us to learn more applications of the Aqua Barrier in dredging.

Please give us a call at 936-372-1222 or toll-free at 800-245-0199 to get started.

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