A dredging pump, also known as a sand dredging pump or a sand suction pump, is a pumping equipment used in underwater or muddy environments. It is mainly used in dredging, mining, construction, port construction, river desilting, lake and reservoir maintenance and other fields. The design of the dredging pump enables it to effectively handle fluids containing solid particles, such as sand, silt, gravel, etc. In this article, let’s take a look at the application of dredging pumps in land reclamation projects.
1. Working principle of dredging pump
Dredging pumps usually work on the principle of centrifugal pumps. The rotating impeller generates centrifugal force to suck the fluid containing solid particles from the suction port, and then through the acceleration of the impeller, the fluid is thrown out in the tangential direction and finally discharged through the pump outlet. The design of this pump enables it to work effectively in fluids with high solid content.
2. What are the use scenarios of dredging pump?
2.1 Blowing and filling is the abbreviation of blowing sand and reclamation
That is, using a dredger to dig out sand and soil, and then pumping the mud-water mixture to the offshore land through a pipeline to make the mud reach the rated height.
Functions of filling: dredging silt to reinforce dams, leveling land, dredging silt to reinforce dams
This method is mainly used on the Yellow River. During work, dredgers or dredging pumps are used to suck sand and mud from the river channel, and then transported to the Yellow River Dam through the dredging pump booster station to reinforce the dam. This function can be achieved by using the dredging pumps produced by Tai’an Ocean Pump Industry Co., Ltd., and there are also many finished product cases for reference. See the finished product cases below.
2.2. Land leveling
Mainly in larger cities in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, sand suction ships are used to collect sand from the center of the river, and sand transport ships are used to transport sand and gravel to the destination port, and then transported to the leveling area through dredging pumps and conveying pipelines. This operation method is mainly used in central cities.
In recent years, with the development of dredging equipment and technology and the continuous expansion of market demand, the application of hydraulic reclamation has gradually expanded from land reclamation to land reclamation, coastal protection, reservoir construction and other fields, becoming the most promising business area in the dredging industry. Hydraulic reclamation projects are the premise and foundation of engineering projects such as urban construction, coastal protection, and coastal industrial zones. Affected by driving factors such as global urbanization, climate warming, world population growth, and tourism demand, hydraulic reclamation projects have good development prospects.
3. Population growth and urbanization require marine reclamation
With the continuous growth of the world’s total population and the advancement of urbanization on a global scale, urban population density continues to increase, and the scale of urban construction is rapidly expanding. According to research data from the United Nations Population Fund, the global population exceeded 6.9 billion in 2010; at the same time, nearly half of the world’s population lives in coastal areas, and 8 of the world’s top ten cities are located in coastal areas, which makes the contradiction between land supply and demand in coastal cities increasingly prominent. The rapid economic development of coastal areas and the contradiction between land resource supply and demand determine that with the global urbanization process and the continuous growth of population, the market demand for reclamation projects will continue to expand.
4. The construction of coastal industrial zones drives reclamation projects
60% of the world’s total economy is concentrated in coastal areas. Environmental problems caused by industrial development and regional industrial agglomeration have led to a rapid expansion of the scale of coastal industrial zone construction worldwide. A large number of industries such as steel, chemicals, and energy that have a great impact on the environment or are heavily dependent on transportation costs have been or are being transferred to coastal areas as a whole. The scale of the reclamation engineering operations involved in these industrial transfers is extremely large and lasts for a long time, forming a stable and considerable market demand.
5. Climate warming requires strengthening coastal protection
Climate warming has changed from a theoretical scope of academic research to an impact or even a threat to human life. The climate change report “Climate Change 2007” released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) of the United Nations shows that 11 of the 12 years before 2007 were included in the years affected by climate change. According to instrumental records, since 1850, in the 12 years with the highest global surface temperatures, the sea level has risen by 0.3 cm per year. According to the IPCC’s forecast, under the influence and threat of climate change, the rise in sea levels will accelerate in the future. The rise in sea levels caused by climate warming forces coastal areas to strengthen coastal protection, thus creating a greater demand for hydraulic reclamation projects. According to the IADC research report, the dredging industry revenue generated by global coastal protection reached 1.097 billion euros in 2009, accounting for 10% of the industry revenue. This revenue increased by 402 million euros compared with 2008, an increase of 57.84%.
6. Tourism promotes the reclamation of beaches and artificial islands
With the development of social economy and the improvement of residents’ income level, the demand for tourism and leisure land is increasing, such as the reclamation of artificial islands and the maintenance of beaches. From the Gulf of Mexico, the Mediterranean, the United Arab Emirates to the Gold Coast of Australia, water or water tourism attracts thousands of tourists every year. Tourism has become the main source of national income in many countries. For yacht and cruise terminals, theme parks and tourist resorts, dredging operations are increasingly needed to improve and enhance the landscape environment to attract more tourists.
7. Conclusion
In general, hydraulic reclamation plays an important role in meeting the needs of urban development, coastal protection and tourism, but it also faces multiple challenges such as population growth, urbanization, climate change and tourism development. In the future, with the continuous advancement of technology and the continuous growth of market demand, hydraulic reclamation is expected to be more widely used and developed around the world.
