Study On The Safety Assessement Of Ro-Ro Shiping In The Three-Gorges Reservoir Waterway

The Three Gorges Project attracts the world's attention. After its construction, the fairway conditions in the reservoir area have been improved, and the waterborne transportation has been promoted. Ro-Ro ship is a new type of transportation method following the Three Gorges project's completion. The requirements of the long distance heavy-duty trucking market have stimulated its development reaching 119 ships and 5902 parking spaces. In 2007, Ro-Ro ships carried 392,000 trucks, which were approximately 22.6 percent of the whole cargo in the Three Gorges section. Therefore, Ro-Ro ships have become one of the main transportation methods in the Three Gorges reservoir area.The safety of Ro-Ro ships affects the whole Three Gorges reservoir area. It is one of the most important parts ensuring the safety of the Three Gorges reservoir area. It is highly concerned by the government and all levels of traffic departments, as well as all circles from international and domestic community.Safety assessment is a process of hazard identification, risk estimation risk evaluation and control on a transport system. Safety assessment on Ro-Ro ships in the Three Gorges reservoir area has a great practical significance on improving safety management efficiency and level. This thesis includes the following main aspects of research:1. Introduction and analysis on foreign and domestic research development of Ro-Ro ships transportation in the Three Gorges reservoir area, as well as the general situation and difficulty of safety assessment.2. Based on the system safety engineering and accident cause theory, this thesis investigated the characteristics and security situation in the Three Gorges Reservoir area, analyzed the construction and functions of the Ro-Ro ships' transportation system, introduced the transport process and key operations of the Ro-Ro ship, and analyzed the factors and hazards affecting the transportation security.3. With the help of risk management theory, this thesis investigated the overall framework of safety assessment on Ro-Ro ships' transportation in the Three Gorges reservoir area, established the contents and requirements of assessment, determined its basic procedures, analyzed its key factors and established its main theories and methods.4. Based on the safety principle theory, this thesis investigated the main methods of hazard identification, risk estimation and risk evaluation, and tested their applications.5. The simulation method was introduced to the ship risk analysis; this thesis established a basic framework of simulation analysis and typical ship kinematical mathematical model using ship hydrodynamic theory. Through the field research, it set up simulated shipping environment and analyzed the risk by simulation operation.6. This thesis investigated the framework and key measures of risk control by accident caused theory, human-computer security management theory and risk management theory.