Littoral 2002, The Changing Coast. EUROCOAST / EUCC, Porto Portugal Ed.

EUROCOAST Portugal, ISBN 972-8558-09-0

Geotextile Sand Containers - Successful Solutions Against Beach Erosion at Sandy Coasts & Scour Problems under Hydrodynamic Loads
Burkard Lenze1, Georg Heerten2, Fokke Saathoff3 & Katja Stelljes4
Sales Eng., Naue Fasertechnik, Alter Bahndamm 12, D-49448 Lemfoerde, blenze@naue.com Dr., Manag. Dir., Naue Fasertechnik, Wartturmstrae 1, D-32312 Luebbecke, gheerten@naue.com 3 Dr., Manag. Dir., 4Civil Eng., BBG Bauberatung Geokunststoffe, Alter Bahndamm 12, D-49448 Lemfoerde, saathoff@bbg-lf.de, stelljes@bbg-lf.de
2 1

Abstract Various structures can be of use in hydraulic and coastal engineering practice. The construction varies from traditional materials like rubbles, rip-raps or concrete systems as "hard structures" to more novel and innovative materials as alternative systems made of geotextile as "soft and flexible structures". The use of local available sand which can easily be filled into geotextile units to create containers, bags and tubes have provided significant examples as optimal technical solutions for active and passive coastal protection at exposed sandy beaches and for scour stabilisation at waterfront structures, where construction elements for beach erosion control, groynes, breakwaters, dune revetments and scour stabilisation have been needed. 1. INTRODUCTION The historical development of geotextile sand containers, bags and tubes and their usage for coastal protection is founded in the 1950s. The idea of encapsulating soil as fill material in geotextile units is made practical by the high effectiveness and low costs of nonwoven needlepunched filter geotextiles. With increasing costs of conventional construction materials in hydraulic engineering applications, the use of sand filled geotextile containers has increased rapidly. Especially in certain geographic regions with long stretches of sandy beaches and dunes, the possibility of using local available sand as fill material for individually tailored geotextile containers (Figure 1) provide the main advantage in case of shortage of natural rocks and gravel. The successful replacing of conventional coastal structural elements made of concrete, ripraps or insufficient available natural materials by the use of geotextile containers in tailored dimensions is followed by new applications wherever construction elements for erosion control, groynes, breakwaters, dune-revetments and scour stabilisation are needed. 2. GEOTEXTILES - TECHNOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY Considering the durability of water-permeable and filter-stable nonwoven geotextiles, the experiences gained from scientific investigations and tests over the last five decades have lead to acknowledgement as being state of the art for the use of filtration and revetment purposes in hydraulic engineering. Their lifetime for longterm stability corresponds to the usual planned lifetime of the coastal work (Kohlhase, 1997). The nonwoven geotextile performance of filtration, separation, drainage and reinforcement has led to the idea of designing geotextile sand containers, where needle-punched nonwovens function as the containment for local available soil materials. These geotextile sand containers provide soft and flexible coastal solutions and have less permanent impact on the environment, which is the advantage over massive and hard construction elements made of concrete, steel or rocks. The contained material is not subject to erosion during and after placing and sand containers can be filled and placed with a variety of simple or complicated equipment.

Figure 1: Geotextile sand container (1m3) made of nonwoven shows high robustness during installation

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Nonwoven geotextiles consist of needlepunched short fibres, e.g. UV-stabilised polyester-fibres, with a pore distribution in threedimensional direction. The pore structures of nonwoven geotextiles (approx. 90% pore volume) behave better than natural granular filters (approx. 50% pore volume). Even if the major part of the pore structure is filled by soil particles during the lifetime of a coastal structure, the permeability is not reduced to such an extent that pressure gradients within the filter layer are noticeable increased (Kohlhase, 1997). Long-term stable filter nonwovens have a comparable ability to deform. While woven geotextiles are made of sieve like fabrics which are only two-dimensional oriented, the filtration is best done with nonwoven fabrics based on their three-dimensional pore structure. For coastal protection measures thick nonwovens are proven being resistant against ultraviolet radiation and saltwater (Heerten, 1980). High elongation behaviour provides the superior properties during the construction load case, which is determined as being the biggest risk for damaging the geotextiles (compare Figure 1). Conditions during execution of coastal works often play an important role in this context. This requires mechanical properties such as minimum strength and maximum elongation. With a reputation of providing high robustness and abrasion resistance, a geotextile container -if possible filled with locally available soil materialcan be used in nearly every hydraulic construction project where conventionally gravel, stones or rocks are used. Additionally, using geotextile sand containers possibly helps to save gravel resources. Transportation of these materials, which often have to be delivered to the site from distant areas is avoided since classified fill material is not required (Saathoff & Witte, 1994). 3. GOLD COAST ARTIFICAL REEF CONSTRUCTION The Gold Coast beaches are one of the greatest natural assets of the area and maintaining their condition is of paramount importance for tourism and recreation. After severe erosion in the 1960s and in the 90's which damaged property and impacted severely on the tourist economy, the Gold Coast City Council has recognised the need for its 52 km stretch of beaches to be protected and preserved. To provide a long term sustainable solution, the Northern Gold Coast Beach Protection Strategy (NGCBPS) was prepared in 1997.

The NGCBPS involves beach widening stabilised by a submerged artificial reef at Narrowneck designed so as not to disturb the sediment balance (Jackson, 1997) and also to achieve a world class surf break (Black, 1998). Surfers were found to be key stakeholders and the choice of sand-filled geotextile bags for the construction of a "soft" reef was heavily influenced by the improved safety to surfers. One major international surfing competition on the Narrowneck reef will generate $A2.2 M of benefits to the community. In New Zealand, USA and in the UK where surfing is also a very popular recreational activity, artificial surfing reef projects are already being planned to improve surfing conditions and for stabilising single beach sections. In addition, the Gold Coast region is known to experience up to 500,000 m3/yr of net longshore transport. Any structure in this "river of sand" could have serious impacts downstream. It was necessary to trap some sand, but not all. The city was able to sustain a downstream renourishment program of around 80,000 m3, which meant that the structure should allow free passage of more than 80% of the total littoral drift, while still providing a coastal control for the widened beach profile upstream and a "reef" for surfing (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Narrowneck / Gold Coast, Dec. 2000. The top layers are placed and a salient and improved surfing conditions are now evident (ICM, 2000).

Growing engineering knowledge and gained experiences have resulted in this unique active coastal protection method with construction of a submerged artificial reef made of geotextile containers with, each with a fill volume of up to 250 m3. The artificial reef is constructed with over 400 individually installed nonwoven needlepunched geotextile containers for creating a reef volume of about 110,000 m3. The reef proportions fit into a square of 600 m by 350 m. The crosssection profile ranges from about 1 m to 10 below low tide sea level in distance of 150 m to the shoreline. The reef consists of two separate sections in V-shape with the northern part being larger than the southern part (Figure 3).

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N
Gold Coast City Council and Project managment: ICM Reef design: ASR Contractor: McQuade Marine Geotextiles: Soil Filters Australia
Figure 3: Plan view of the reef design

3.1 Gold Coast - geotextile sand containers The determined reef design has required prefabricated geotextile container dimensions of 20m length with diameters between 3.0 m and 4.5m, each individually installed in 3 layers. These dimensions were predicted to be stable in the 8-10m waves which occur during cyclones (Figure 4). To achieve success with the mega-large sand containers various disciplines have needed to be combined and special attention had to be paid to the seams and the prefabrication of the inlets and outlets for the filling process. Special threads and stitching methods were used to achieve a strong seam with sufficient flexibility. The selected heavy needle-punched nonwovens prevent stresses risers in the geotextile due to their high elongation performance. 4.8 m

Nonwovens protects itself against abrasive attack of sand in the breakers zones by immigration of sand into the pore structure. In contrast to wovens, the given fibre structure of nonwovens leads to the growth of algae after few days. This has been observed during diving surveys checking position and shape of the installed container. A bio-diverse marine ecosystem has been developed after several months caused by the used nonwovens, which attracted small fishes and the growth of algae and mussels within hours of their placement. 3.2 Installation The final technical solution relating prefabrication and installation was developed by optimising test methods according to feasibility studies. Filling and placement procedures were conducted with the split hull hopper barge FAUCON (Figure 5) which is prepared with means of the vessels hydraulic dredging equipment. The needed quantity of sand is dredged from determined sand deposits near the reef. For placement the hopper is navigated to the proposed installation position via GPS and the container is dropped by splitting the hopper barge bottom in longitudinal direction and the sand container 400 tonnes weight has been dropped to the sea bed. 4. PIONEERING DUNE EROSION PROTECTION AT THE ISLAND SYLT / NORTH SEA After a series of storm tides in 1990 which had caused severe erosion problems at the western coast of the island Sylt in Germany the historical house Kliffende was at risk to being lost to the sea during further tidal storm surges.
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20 m

Figure 4: Gold Coast geotextile sand container (250 m3)

The fibre structure of the thick needle-punched nonwovens guarantees high robustness and the given coarse, open pore surface attracts the embedding of sand and the settlement of marine life.

Littoral 2002, The Changing Coast

sand cover

geotextiles

Figure 6: Dune reinforcements with geotextile sand cushions, schematically drawn

Figure 5: Filling & installation with the split hull hopper barge FAUCON The authorities rejected hard rock structures such as concrete revetments at these natural sandy beaches. On this basis, the consulting engineers (Knabe + Knabe, Germany) developed a new system (Figure 6) consisting of geotextile sand cushions (wrapped sand into geotextiles).

The installed geotextiles fulfil two requirements. On the one hand the geotextiles function as a filter-effective protection against sediment wash-out and on the other hand the terraced layered geotextiles work as reinforcement for stabilisation of the dune embankment.

The construction required knowledge about the hydrodynamic loads. In combination with beach nourishment this soft coastal construction was designed as second defence line and sand should cover the structure again after severe eroding storm periods (Nickels & Heerten, 2000). According to Figure 7 the achieved total height of the construction is 8 m (inclinations of V:H = 1:2 and V:H = 1:4). A stability analysis was conducted by the BAW Germany (Federal Waterways Engineering and Research Institute) and was based on the decisive load case for possible deformations resulting from downdrift waves with the pore-water pressures acting from the inside of the structure. In order to achieve a quick relaxation towards the front of the construction, it was necessary to match the permeability of the sand, the permeability and drainage effect of the geotextiles. As biological accompanying measures, sand trap fences made of bushes were put up and beach grass served as stabilisation. Thus, the construction looked like a natural dune and survived the winter storms of the last years despite repeated exposure and direct wave attack.

Sand trap fences made of bushes and marram grass

1:n = 1: 4

+7 mNN

Beach nourishment +5 mNN

1: n

:2 =1
NN

30 m d istance

-1 mNN

Figure 7: Island Sylt, 1990: Invisible dune reinforcement with wrapped-around geotextile sand cushions as second line of coastline erosion defence (Nickels & Heerten, 1996) 378

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A needle-punched composite consisting of a polypropylene slit film woven and a polyester nonwoven was selected. The seaward faces of the sand cushions were accurately formed with the aid of temporary concrete shuttering elements. Parts of beach nourishment were mechanically redeposited on the geotextile sheets and compacted. The geotextile sheets were folded up and back. The sand cushions laid on top of each other to form a stabilised beach section. The geotextile soft structure proved worthwhile several times during winter storms in 1993/94 and was exposed during these storm tides, but not damaged. These sand cushions even survived the second largest storm surge in December 1999, showing superior effectiveness compared to all other structures being used on the island. Thus the geotextile soft coastal structure survived storm surges with a still water level at 2.5 m above normal and severe wave action which could reach more than 5.0 m.

5. SCOUR PROTECTION In rivers, waterways and open sea areas scour can be caused by natural currents or erosion effects due to ship movements, such as natural gradients or drift currents, waves, backflow currents and ship's screw actions. The stability of waterfront structures, bridge piles and slopes of waterways at narrow passage openings can be endangered by progressive scour development (Figure 10). Generally for planning new structures, e.g. bridge piles or harbour waterfront structures with expected hydrodynamic loads and potential scour a professionally designed scour protection should be taken into account as being more economic than emerge measures afterwards when scour has been developed.

Figure 10: Scour development at bridge piles (left), flexible scour protection at the bottom with sand containers (right), schematically drawn

Figure 8: After storm surges in the year 2000, the second defence line is exposed to wave attack again since construction in 1990 waterway bed

foundation

sand containers

Figure 11: Scour protection with geotextile sand containers at the bottom of bridge piles

Figure 9: Detail, year 2000: Exposed geotextile dune reinforcement during storm tides

The conventional execution of a flexible scour stabilisation and bed protection by the use of mineral filter layers in the vicinity of difficult accessible structures (e.g. bridge pile foundations (Figure 11) or bottom edges of waterfront structures) and in conditions of deep water, currents and/or tide influences is only possible with sophisticated technical equipment and time and cost expenditure.
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Under the above mentioned conditions the use of geotextile sand containers made of needlepunched filter nonwovens and local available sand as fill material provides significant advantages as they work as filtration layer and concurrent as ballast for underwater installation. They can be placed accurately also in deep water under currents and waves by using a jib-crane placed on a pontoon or stone dumping barges while navigation via GPS to the installation position. They provide a large flexibility and adaptability according to structures, also bed unevenness can be equalised. The geotextile sand container's dimension has to be chosen according to the given hydrodynamic loads. At German's North Sea and Baltic Sea ports scour fill and scour protection solutions with nonwoven sand containers, each with a fill volume of 1m3 have successfully been realised under currents of up to 2 m/s and in water depths of up to 20 m. Wherever it is necessary the installed scour stabilisation can be covered with rip-raps (Schlie, 1999). Relating the necessity of dredging waterways for maintaining ship traffic a geotextile scour protection solution with sand containers provides an additional positive effect as they can be filled up with dredged waterway material for saving costs.

6. CONCLUSIONS Geotextile nonwoven sand containers as "soft rock structures" for flexible coastal protection measures can provide significant advantages over "hard coastal structures" made of concrete, steel and rocks. The described pioneering success of the Narrowneck artificial (surfing) reef construction made of geotextile sand containers is an example of an innovative technical solution, which cost 50% of the conventional rock solution and which has no permanent impact on the environment. The geotextile artificial (surfing) reef was awarded the 2000 Case Earth Award by the Civil Contractor's Federation / Australia. They have recognised the reef within the environmental excellence of the Northern Gold Coast Beach Protection Strategy. The official public Gold Coast reef opening day was held in January 2001. Geotextile "soft rock structures" are variable or removable if necessary and there is always the possibility to combine geotextile structures with conventional elements like rip-rap or rock revetments. Relating scour stabilisation under difficult conditions (deep water depth, currents, waves, tides) it can be concluded that conventional scour protections made of mineral filter layers have significant disadvantages contrary to the use of sand containers made of filter-stable nonwovens. The geosynthetic solution provide more effectiveness relating costs, time and equipment than conventional methods while concurrent offering flexibility and adaptability according to scour layout and difficult accessible structures like bridge piles for example. REFERENCES Black, K. et al (1998); Design of a Multi-purpose Reef for Surf Riding, Sheltered Swimming & Coastal Stability: Gold Coast, Australia 2nd International Artificial Surfing Reef Symposium, San Diego, April 1998 Heerten, G. (1980); Long-term experiences with the use of synthetic filter fabrics in coastal engineering, Proc. 17th International Conference on Coastal Engineering ICCE, Sydney, Australia, 1980 Heerten, G., Jackson, A., Restall, S., Saathoff, F. (2000); New Developments With Mega Sand Containers of Nonwoven Needle-Punched Geotextiles for the Construction of Coastal Structures, Int. Conference on Coastal Engineering 2000, Abstract Book, Sydney, Australia 2000 ICM (1997); Technical Report and Recommendations for North Gold Coast Beach Protection Strategy. International Coastal Management, Angus Jackson, Gold Coast, Australia, 1997
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Figure 12: Installation of sand containers by using an excavator / North Sea

Figure 13: Installation by using a jib-crane / North Sea

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Jackson, A. et al. (1997); Strategy for Protection of the Northern Gold Coast Beaches, Australasian Coastal Engineering & Ports Conference, Christchurch September 1997 Kohlhase, S. (1997); Some Aspects of the Use of Geotextiles in the Field of Coastal Engineering, Proc. of the first German-Chinese Joint Seminar - Recent Developments in Coastal Engineering, Hasenwinkel, University of Rostock, Germany, 1997 Nickels, H. & Heerten, G. (1996); Building Elements made of Geosynthetics and Sand Resist North Sea Surf, Proceedings of the first European geosynthetic conference EUROGEO, Maastricht, the Netherlands, October 1996 Nickels, H. & Heerten, G. (2000); Objektschutz Haus Kliffende, Hansa, 137. Jahrgang, March 2000 Schlie, S. (1999); Geotextile Container als Kolkschutz, 6. Informationsund Vortragsveranstaltung ber "Kunststoffe in der Geotechnik", Munich, published by Deutsche Gesellschaft fr Geotechnik, DGGT e.V., Essen, Germany, March 1999

Saathoff, F. & Witte, J. (1994); Use of Geotextile Containers for Stabilizing the Scour Embankments at the Eidersperrwerk, Geosynthetics World, Part 1 September 1994, Part 2 October 1994 Stelljes, K., Saathoff, F. & Heerten, G.; New applications with nonwoven geotextile sand containers for soft coastal structures, International Conference on New Trends In Water And Environmental Engineering For Safety And Life: Eco-Compatible Solution For Aquatic Environments, Capri, Italy, 2000 Turner, I. & Leyden, V. et al. (1999); Physical Model Investigations of an Artificial Reef for Surfing and Coastal Protection - Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, Proc. COPEDEC V Conference, 1999 Turner, I. & Leyden, V. et al. (2000); Comparison of Observed and Predicted Coastline Changes at the Gold Coast Artificial (Surfing) Reef, Int. Conference on Coastal Engineering 2000, Abstract Book, Sydney, Australia 2000

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