Publications

Many conventional systems of shore protection such as seawalls, rubble mound breakwater, groins and detached breakwaters may be used to attenuate the wave energy which cause coastal erosion. Although, these methods are effective, they are expensive and are not ecofriendly. Recently, synthetic geotextile tubes may be used as a barrier used along shorelines and beaches to help control erosion. In the present study, 2D numerical modelling studies using MIKE21 were conducted to study the efficiency of geotextile breakwaters for the case study of the beach of Miamy - Asafra - Mandara -Montaza which lies on Alexandria coastline, Egypt. The submerged breakwater system consists of one main parallel part and two overlapping parts 150 to 300 meters offshore. The total length of the breakwaters is 2520 m with water depth ranging from 2.5 to 8.5 m at the location of the structure. A bathymetry survey was carried out on the year of 2004 and several beach profiles were also conducted on year 2005. The numerical model successfully predicted the cross-shore profiles for the year 2005. Moreover, different scenarios were implemented to investigate the optimum submergence ratio of the geotextile breakwater. Results reveal that a submergence depth of 0.5m is enough to provide the breakwater shadow area with circulation and could provide safer areas for swimmers.