Beach Nourishment, Fujarah, UAE

In 2007, a strong tropical cyclone Gonuhit the Fujarah coast, making a great havoc on the Emirates and causing serious erosion for several kilometers. Although the sand movement drifting from south toward north could help the beach nourishment, it is unlikely to recover in a short time, and the situation was further worsened with time.

Initially, the Le Meridien Hotel adopted the traditional method, riprap groin, to protect the beach in the northern and southern shore. However, without a solid foundation base, the groin failed to function and turned out to sink due to the repeated wave actions and yearly unexpected cyclone attacks.

In order to make less impact on the tourist attractions and environmental aesthetics, the owner of the Le Meridien Hotel appealed to an innovative method, that is to reconstruct the groin and nourish the beach. The ACE engineering team designed a structure with the usage of ACETube^® geotextile tubes in an anti U shape, forming a seaward breakwater stretching out for 200 meters long on the southern and the northern side. This structure was a vertical submerged breakwater creating a 228m x 225m safe zone to reduce the wave energy and nourish the beach. A variety of types of geotextile tubes were designed by the engineering team to conform to the undulating terrain: from 8.6m in circumference to 17.2m, from 52m in length to 77m; these geotextile tubes were pumped and filled up with the sand in situ to create a cofferdam.

After the project construction was completed, ACETube^® geotextile tubes effectively made erosion well-controlled and prevented Fujarah coast from further attacking by cyclones. ACETube^® represents the best way to reduce impact and reach the sustainable development for our environment.