In connection with the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Railway Bridge Construction Project (BSMRBCP), IWM employs state-of-the-art technology, including Multibeam Echosounder and high-precision RTK GPS (heading technique), to ensure the quality hard rock dumping at river training work (RTWs) as per design and monitoring of scour depth at pier locations. IWM also ensured the precise positioning of the barge for the desired hard rock dumping location as per the design, which is a critical aspect of the operation. The dumping barge was equipped with primary and secondary RTK GPS antennas for heading, a 43” TV monitor for display, and a laptop equipped with Hydro Pro Software.

Throughout the rock dumping operation, continuous monitoring of the barge's position ensures accurate placement of the rocks. Feedback regarding the barge's position and any deviations from the intended path or dumping locations are provided to the operators and crew. After the hard rock material was dumped in the RTWs area with precise positioning, a multibeam survey was conducted in the same area to ensure the hard material and Fascine mattress were correctly placed or not.

Using this Rock Dumping Barge Positioning System with RTK GPS and the Multibeam Survey, the project benefits from unparalleled accuracy and efficiency in rock dumping operations, contributing significantly to the success of the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Railway Bridge Construction Project.

The Institute of Water Modelling (IWM) has successfully completed an extensive series of river and topographic surveys under the Flood and Riverbank Erosion Risk Management Investment Program (FRERMIP) Project-2 where five distinct types of hydrological and hydrographical surveys were conducted. This project was financed by ADB and the executive agency was BWDB. The objectives of the program are to:

• Improve the livelihood of people in the project area,

• Enhance resilience to flood and riverbank erosion risks through the improvement of infrastructure, strengthening of institutional capacity, and the update and expansion of the knowledge base,

• Establish integrated structural and nonstructural risk management measures at priority erosion sites and address their sustainability.

Under the river surveys, bathymetry was carried out in different seasons to document channel characteristics, cross sections and discharges to determine flow characteristics and capacity, Multibeam survey to analyze its shape and development, sediment monitoring for sediment load analysis. Sediment dunes were also monitored using a multibeam echosounder. Flow characteristics were measured through discharge measurements using ADCP and float tracking. Under the topographic surveys, photogrammetric and LIDAR surveys were conducted for proposed new and existing embankments for documenting physical features accurately and point cloud data for accurate Digital Terrain Models (DTM). The insights gained from this project will play a vital role in mitigating flood risks and managing riverbank erosion, contributing to the overall resilience and safety of the region.

Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) is implementing bank protection work along the Padma River in connection with the Project titled “Protective work against erosion of the Right bank of Padma River at Zajira and Naria Upazilla under Shariatpur District”.  Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) has engaged IWM for monitoring of bank protection area at Naria using multibeam survey. The length of the survey reach was 10.20 km along the right bank of the Padma River. The objective of the survey was to determine the existing riverbed situation and identify vulnerable areas of the protective works to take instant decision for repairing the exact location. The locations of these vulnerable areas, as identified through the analysis of the surveyed data, are detailed below:

• Mulfatganj Launch Ghat to Sadur Bazar area from chainage (-) 2100m to chainage (-) 3200m has been identified as vulnerable locations in terms of scouring.

• Sureswar Darbar Sharif area from chainage (-) 500m to chainage (+) 1000m has been identified as vulnerable locations in terms of scouring.

Jahajer Char is located in the Meghna Estuary area bordering the Bay of Bengal to the south. It is to the south of Urir Char, west of Sandwip, east of Caring Char. Though the Jahajer Char is not much old, but it has been developing and expanding fast in the south. Therefore, it has a prospect to be use in future.  Bangladesh Armed Forces has planned to develop the Jahajer Char for multiple purposes. In this regards, Bangladesh Army is going for an integrated plan of this char which would include afforestation, grazing field, fish processing facilities, five camps, cyclone shelters and harbor. As such, a detail feasibility study is needed for integrated development of Jahajer Char considering technical, environmental and social issues. In this connection, Military Institute of Science and Technology (MIST), the pioneer Technical Institute of Armed Forces engaged IWM to conduct a field survey campaign to support this feasibility study.  IWM has made data collection campaign successfully in two phases- in dry season during end of February 2014 to mid of April 2014 and in monsoon during mid of July 2014 mid of August 2014. The main features of the field survey include- bathymetric survey, topographic survey, discharge observation, water level measurement, suspended sediment sampling and bed material sampling. 

For modernization of Bangladesh’s railway infrastructure, and to further enhancement of railway connectivity within Bangladesh, a new direct Rail Link from Bogura to Sirajganj, an agreement between Bangladesh Railway and Indian consultant (JV of RITES Ltd. and Aarvee Associates) was signed in September 2021. In this connection, engaged IWM on 05 April 2022 for conducting the detail topographic survey. The objective of this assignment was to perform detailed topographic survey from Bogura to Shahid Mansur Ali Station along with detailed mapping of the project area to aid in planning horizontal and vertical rail alignment, and other engineering designs. 

Major works performed under this project were (i) 553 nos of Control Points establishment along rail alignment through static survey by RTK-GNSS and level fly, (ii) Photogrammetric survey by UAV along 200m corridor width of the project for 90 km proposed rail alignment, (iii) 20m interval cross-sections along 200m corridor width of the project for 90 km proposed rail alignment, (iv) Drone videography along the alignment, (v) 2D and 3D Feature Extraction from photogrammetric data, (vi) Establishment of RCC pillar along centerline of the alignment.

The detailed survey in that part was carried out by Terrestrial Laser Scanner (TLS). Major instruments included 17 nos of RTK-GNSS (Emlid Reach RS2 and Polaris RTK S100), 2 nos of DJI Phantom 4 Pro V2 and Teledyne Optic Polaris TLS.

In connection with “Implementation Support Services in connection with different ongoing projects” BWDB engaged IWM for supporting support the Taskforce of BWDB and ensure the quantity of Pre & Postwork survey. The main objective of the project:

• To assist BWDB in determining the volume of earth in field level construction of embankment, river dredging, khal excavation under different projects / field divisions by prework & postwork survey as per design and specification.

• To support BWDB for ensuring quantity and quality of pre & postwork Survey for construction/re-construction of embankment and excavation/re-excavation of khal/rivers and dredging of rivers as per design and specification.

For ensuring the quantity of Pre & Postwork survey, IWM team (Engineer and surveyors) conducting survey under the guidance of Chief Engineer, Monitoring, BWDB. Taskforce representatives of BWDB also accompanied the IWM team. Survey work was performed using modern equipment and software for analysis. The major equipment used are: RTK, Total station, Level machine, DGPS, GPS, Digital Echosounder. The software used are: AutoCAD, HYPACK, HydroPRO, SWDTM.