An application of gabions for design of coastal protection structures in lakes

Abstract

With large areas of water reservoirs and lakes, the wave runoff distance is also large, resulting in the high waves in the wind blow direction. These waves intensively disrupt the coast of the lake or water reservoir. Another intense factor of coastal erosion is ice. A lot of engineering measures for the coastal protection of reservoirs and especially for lakes are used: reinforced concrete slabs, blocks, jibs, cellular systems (geosynthetics), etc. An eroded coastline, reshaped by installing a coastal protection structure using gabion construction, is analysed in this research. Gabions are designed to protect banks and slopes from fast water flow (water speed over 5 m·s–1) and ice impacts. They are designed according to geotechnical principles, assessing stability according to the limit design situations specified in Eurocode 7 (EN 1997-1). The aim of this work is to illustrate the features of wave and ice loads and geotechnical design situations evaluated in the design of a coastal protection structure made of gabions.