Coastal protection works against erosion by wave attack at the coastline of Kalo Nero


Country / Area : Greece / Kalo Nero - Peloponnese

Institution : Developmental of Messinia S.A.

Duration of Service : 2010

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Project description:

The study area is bounded by the estuary of a River named Arkadikos to the South and the river named Brazzeri in the North. There are two coastal sections based on the on-the-spot investigations of the coast survey, the geomorphology, the sediment along the coast, the land use etc.. The first section covers the northern part of Brazzeri with rocky coast in the middle of the study area. The second section concerns the southern part near the river Arkadikos. The waves’ action, especially from the West and the southwest area sea, combined with marine sediments and geomorphology of the coastal zone, has as a consequence the timeless erossion of the beach with a steady pace. The sediments of streams that delimit the area under study are not sufficient to maintain the stability of the coast. The total length of the area studied was about 3,0 km. In coastal engineering study investigated the coastal’s erosion and proposed coastal protection works.

The coastal engineering study included the following:

  • Data collection: a) climatic data of the region (e.g. rainwater run-off and according data, etc) in order to calculate the wave climate in the deep water, b) aerial photos of different years for the analysis of the evolution of the coastline.
  • Numerical modeling: Waves’ transformation from deep water to the coastal zone taking into account refraction, defraction and waves’ breaking.
  • Sediment analysis: seabed sediment data collection, laboratory analysis for determining the composition of the sediment particle size and other physical and statistical parameters (e.g., average diameter, standard deviation, etc).
  • Sediment transport: Calculation of longshore and crosshore sediment tranport, taking into account the results of waves’ simulation, the analyses of sediments, the streams and rivers, the sea currents, the tides and the coastline’s changes in previous years on the basis of aerial photographs. The calculation of sediment transport was by using empirical (CERC) and numerical models (STWAVE, SBEACH, GENESIS). Simulated the longshore and crosshore sediment transport on the existing situation and investigated alternative vertical and parallel works to the coastal protection. Finally, simulated the evolution of the coastline under the wave attack before and after the construction of each alternative coastal’s protection works.