Nation launches mighty new island-maker
China has launched Asia's largest and most advanced cutter-suction dredger, which can further enhance the nation's capability in land reclamation.
The Tiankun was moved on Friday to waters off a shipyard at Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industry Qidong Marine Engineering Co in Jiangsu province. Its construction started in early 2016 and will be completed in June, according to a statement sent to China Daily by the Marine Design and Research Institute in Shanghai, the ship's designer.
Engineers will test and finetune equipment already installed on the electrically powered, self-propelled vessel and continue installing other devices. Then the ship will conduct mooring and sailing tests before being commissioned to China Communications Construction Co's Tianjin Dredging Co, it said.
The institute calls the Tiankun a magic island-maker in the statement, explaining that it is the best of its kind in Asia. It can be used to conduct coastal/channel dredging and land reclamation operations even in bad weather at sea, it said.
With a full displacement of 17,000 metric tons, the 140-meter-long ship is capable of dredging as much as 6,000 cubic meters of sand or clay per hour from 35 meters below the water's surface, a capacity that means it could dig three standard swimming pools in an hour. The vessel is equipped with one of the world's strongest cutter-suction systems, with four types of cutters that can handle various seabed substances, including hard rock.
After sand, clay or scattered coral reef is drawn out of the waters, it can be conveyed to as far away as 15 kilometers from the ship, thanks to the world's most powerful and longest conveyance system, according to the institute. The suctioned substances can be piled up to form new land.
The ship is highly automated: Its computers can operate and monitor the ship's equipment without manual manipulation, thus boasting a higher level of efficiency compared with similar vessels, the institute said.
Currently, the largest cutter-suction dredger in operation in Asia is Tianjin Dredging Co's Tianjing, which was jointly designed by Chinese and German engineers. It can handle 4,500 cubic meters of substance each hour from 30 meters beneath the surface.
There are only four countries in the world－China, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany－that are able to develop cutter-suction dredgers, the most technologically sophisticated ship used for marine engineering, said Fei Long, deputy chief designer at the Marine Design and Research Institute.
"The development of the Tiankun indicates that we have become one of the leaders in the marine engineering sector," he said.
中國(guó)性能強(qiáng)勁的新型“造島神器”下水
日前，亞洲最大、也是最先進(jìn)的絞吸挖泥船在中國(guó)下水，有望進(jìn)一步加強(qiáng)中國(guó)在吹填造地領(lǐng)域的工程能力。
這艘名為“天鯤號(hào)”的重型自航絞吸挖泥船周五在位于江蘇省的上海振華重工啟東造船廠下水。據(jù)“天鯤號(hào)”的設(shè)計(jì)單位中國(guó)船舶工業(yè)集團(tuán)有限公司第七〇八研究所向本報(bào)介紹，該船在2016年年初開工建造，預(yù)計(jì)將于2018年6月完工投入使用。
據(jù)該所介紹，在這艘電力驅(qū)動(dòng)自航式船舶下水后，研發(fā)人員將對(duì)船上已安裝好的設(shè)備進(jìn)行調(diào)試，并將繼續(xù)安裝其他儀器。該船后續(xù)還將進(jìn)行系泊及試航試驗(yàn)，之后將交付給中國(guó)交通建設(shè)股份有限公司下屬的天津航道局有限公司進(jìn)行作業(yè)。
七〇八所稱“天鯤號(hào)”為“造島神器”，表示該船在亞洲范圍內(nèi)是其同類型裝備中最先進(jìn)的。該船可用于岸線、河道的疏浚以及填海造地工程，并且不懼海上的惡劣天氣。
據(jù)了解，“天鯤號(hào)”滿載排水量17000噸，長(zhǎng)140米，設(shè)計(jì)每小時(shí)挖泥6000立方米，最大挖深35米。這些指標(biāo)意味著這艘船每小時(shí)可挖出3個(gè)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)游泳池大小的坑。該船擁有世界一流的絞吸系統(tǒng)，與其相匹配的四種絞刀可以處理不同的海床地質(zhì)構(gòu)造，包括硬度很高的海底巖石。
當(dāng)海沙、黏土或礁巖被絞碎后，“天鯤號(hào)”自帶的國(guó)際上功率最高、同時(shí)也是最長(zhǎng)的輸送系統(tǒng)可以將它們輸送到15千米以外的地點(diǎn)，而這些碎屑可以逐漸堆積成為新的陸地。
據(jù)七〇八所科研人員介紹，“天鯤號(hào)”的自動(dòng)化程度很高，可實(shí)現(xiàn)自動(dòng)挖泥、監(jiān)控及無(wú)人操控，相比其他同類船舶，作業(yè)效率得到極大提高。
目前，亞洲現(xiàn)役最大的絞吸船是中交天津航道局的“天鯨號(hào)”?！疤祧L號(hào)”由中德兩國(guó)工程師共同設(shè)計(jì)，最大絞吸能力為每小時(shí)4500立方米，最大挖深30米。
據(jù)七〇八所副總工程師、“天鯤號(hào)”總設(shè)計(jì)師費(fèi)龍介紹，目前世界上只有中國(guó)、荷蘭、比利時(shí)以及德國(guó)這四個(gè)國(guó)家有能力研制絞吸挖泥船。他解釋說(shuō)，這種船是海洋工程裝備領(lǐng)域中技術(shù)最為復(fù)雜的裝備。
他說(shuō)：“‘天鯤號(hào)’的成功研制意味著我國(guó)已經(jīng)成為海洋工程裝備領(lǐng)域里的引領(lǐng)者之一?！?/p>
