The first step in the tidal window calculation is the initialization step. In this step all relevant information is collected.
Relevant information
The first step in the tidal window calculation is to collect all relevant information. This is a combination of information about the harbor and channel, predictions of the conditions, request related information and finally the calculation settings.The channel path (between start of the channel and the berth), the kilometer positions and the harbor angle form the relevant information of the harbor/channel for the tidal window calculation.
To make a tidal window calculation we use predictions of the water level, water speed, water direction, significant wave height (Hm0) and swell height (He10).
Specific request details consists of the ship, the load, the direction, berth and the requested time to start the channel voyage.
The calculation settings are all the settings that are coupled to the request by the operator to make a tidal window calculation: the safety criterion, the speed regime and the optionally use of manual entered prediction overrides, channel bottom elevations and delayed departure time.