A meeting was held by the China Institute of Navigation at Chongqing on August 28, 2016, aiming at evaluating on the scientific and technological achievements used in the construction and operation of mountainous fairway in Yangtze River's Main Line with the presence of eight organizations including Chongqing Jiaotong University, Yangtze River Fairway Bureau, Yangtze River Luzhou Fairway Bureau, Sichuan University, Chongqing University, Wuhan University of Technology, Chongqing Yangtze River Shipping Engineering Survey and Design Institute, Chongqing Yangtze River Fairway Bureau and so on. The authentication committee led by Hu Chunhong carefully heard about the project research report and reviewed the relevant technical documents. After that, they unanimously agreed that that the outcome had reached the international advanced level in general.
Based on the strategic demands of the setting up of the Yangtze River Upstream Shipping Center, this project hinges around the basic theory and critical technology used in the fairway construction and operation services for the mountain area fairway of the Yangtze River’s main line by using of field observation, physical modeling experiment, data modeling computing, engineering test, simulation and other methods and technologies. After more than a decade’s joint efforts of production, education and research institutes, the critical technical problem on the construction and operation of the Yangtze River has been solved. Theory of the mountain fairways improvement along the Yangtze River's main line under the condition of new water and sediment has been further developed. This project has also made a breakthrough in the improvement technique of linking shoal groups derived from the mountainous fairways along the Yangtze River, furthermore, it has ascertained spatiotemporal change features of the typical elements of the mountainous fairways adjusted by pivots. Besides, this project has established the operation service system of the mountainous fairways based on the digital hydrographic chart.
The research results of this project have been successfully applied to multiple fairways improvement works as well as the digital fairways constructions in the upper streams of the Yangtze River. Good results have been obtained in that the advancement of construction of the shipping center of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River meanwhile the implementation of the national strategy of the Yangtze River Economic Zone have gained powerful support. Specifically, the fairway from Yibin to Chongqing has been upgraded from grade four to grade three, the fairway’s minimum maintenance depth of which has been increased to 2.7 meters from the previous 1.8 meters; the fairway grade of the reservoir areas of the lower reaches of Chongqing reach has been elevated from grade three to grade one and its fairway’s minimum maintenance depth has been increased from 2.9 meters to 3.5-4.5 meters. The research results of the project have achieved significant economic and social benefits, bringing a bright prospect of application.
