Innovative Projects

BAM Infraconsult made an important contribution to the realisation of the following innovative projects in the field of beach development:

Pile row breakwaters, Langkawi, Malaysia

The pile row breakwaters in Langkawi, Malaysia were designed and installed in 1995 to prevent further beach erosion and to restore the beaches to their original width. It had a beneficial effect of accommodating recreational beach visitors of the Pelangi Beach Resort.

The beach protection includes two shore parallel pile row breakwaters of 120 m length consisting of two pile rows of 350 mm circular piles with 70 mm gap width. This was the first time pile row breakwaters were used for beach protection. The result after 10 years of observations in 2006 (a year after the severe tsunami of 2005 in the area) was a remarkable beach accretion. Therefore, the pile row breakwaters are considered to be very effective in trapping sediments. A satellite image (Google Earth - January 2006) of the beach including the pile rows are shown below.

photo collage of project

Spending beach and groynes, Dikkowita, Sri Lanka

The spending beach in Dikkowita, Sri Lanka was designed and constructed in 2010. It has the main function of reducing wave energy penetrating through the primary breakwaters of the port. The groynes keep the beach from eroding and transporting sediment to the port basins. Another function of the groynes is to restrict wave penetration to the port basins. The length of the beach is around 150 meter with a slope of 1:9.5. The groynes are 65 meter long. 

Areal photo Dikkowita