Barge Design Options for Fluctuating Water Levels on the Danube

The aim of this paper is to develop and evaluate new design options for barges for the economically viable navigation during low water periods on the Danube. To reach this aim, a four-step approach was conducted, including literature review, the decision on which waterway the barges should serve and for which goods they should be suitable, as well as the visualization, and evaluation of the resulting design options. The research resulted in eight design options for barges, which may navigate on low-water conditions. The barges should serve the Danube stretch between Enns/Austria and Giurgiu/Romania and be able to carry mainly containers. A major conclusion is that it is hardly possible to select one design as the most feasible, since each of the options have several advantages and disadvantages. In practice, it is depending on the actual situation, which of the design is most suitable. A major limitation of the displayed research is that the barge design options are based on the infrastructural requirements of one specific stretch on the Danube and therefore hardly can be transferred to other inland waterways without certain adaptions.