Constructing new marine settlements
Home / Construction Plan for Land Reclamation in Port Development Using Geotextile Tubes
Project Background And Objectives
This project is located in a port expansion area. By laying and filling large geotextile tubes, a dike enclosure structure will be formed to block seawater and reclaim land from the sea. The ultimate goal is to provide a stable land foundation for the construction of berths, yards and supporting facilities.
Construction Conditions
Natural Conditions:
Considering monsoon wind direction, tides, water depth, and typhoon impacts, construction should be carried out in relatively calm seasons.
Construction Materials:
- UV-resistant high-strength geotextile tube bag fabric (tensile strength 35KN-250KN/M), processed into tube bags with a length of 25-30m.
- The filling material is medium-coarse sand or dredged sand from the construction area.
- Crushed stones, rock blocks and concrete for upper protection and revetment.
Deployment And Preparations
Overall Deployment:
Construction in sections and layers, gradually closing the dike.
Labor Organization:
Project managers, safety officers, filling workers and crew.
Main Equipment:
Sand barge, sand blowing pump, sand blowing pipe, bag laying pontoon, positioning buoy, lifting equipment and measuring instruments.
Construction Procedure
STEP 01
Surveying And Foundation Preparation:
Use GPS/total station to measure and locate, clean up the silt in the construction area, excavate the foundation trench, and lay high-strength geotextile, sand, and gravel cushion layers when necessary.STEP 02
Tube Fabrication And Placement:
Tube bags are sewn into bags, with a filling thickness of 0.5-2m for a single bag and an overlap of 1.0-2.0m between bags.STEP 03
Sand Filling:
Sand-blowing vessels are used for filling in sections. Construction must be carried out at low tide, layer by layer, and staggered laying to avoid continuous seams in the cofferdam sandbags.STEP 04
Dike Formation:
The upper and lower layers are staggered and overlapped by 1.0-2.0m to form a stable embankment. The cross-section of the sandbags in the embankment should be trapezoidal or herringbone-shaped (wide at the bottom and narrow at the top). Appropriate settlement allowance should be reserved for the height of the embankment.STEP 05
Slope Protection:
Lay inverted filter geotextile on the surface of the bag, dump graded gravel and boulders, and then build mortar block stone slope protection with a thickness of about 0.4-1.0m to form a permanent seawall.
Quality Control
- Strictly inspect the quality of geotextile tube bags, sand materials and filter geotextiles to ensure that they meet the project requirements.
- Control the filling thickness to about 0.5-2.0m (determine the filling height based on the tensile strength of the geotube cloth) and inspect each batch in sections.
- RTK measurement of crest elevation and alignment, deviation ≤ ±150mm.
- After completion, the geotube bags should be covered promptly to avoid exposure to sunlight and aging.
- Implement “three-level inspection system”: self-check, project re-check, supervisor acceptance.
Safety And Environmental Measures
- Workers must wear life jackets and helmets.
- Provide sufficient lighting for night work.
- Assign personnel to monitor pumping operations.
- Avoid construction during fish spawning or bird migration seasons.
- Install silt curtains to minimize sediment leakage and protect water quality.
Geotextile Tubes: Structural Safety & Durability Challenges
Pain Point 01
Rapid Material Aging Shortens Project Lifespan
Customer Concern:
Traditional geotextile tubes degrade quickly under UV exposure and seawater erosion, leading to strength loss, cracks and breakage within a year. This results in sand leakage, embankment failure and high repair costs.
Solution:
Use UV-resistant high-strength geotextile tubes (tensile strength 35–250 KN/m, elongation >23%). With special treatment, the tubes can withstand natural exposure for 3 years in any marine environment, reducing embankment repair costs from the source.
Pain Point 02
Weak Seam Strength Causes Tube Rupture
Customer Concern:
Conventional tubes are stitched with portable sewing machines, with seam strength ≤30% of base fabric. When filled with sand, seawater pressure often tears the seams, especially in ports with large tidal differences.
Solution:
Adopt industrial four-line parallel stitching, ensuring seam strength ≥70% of base fabric. With trapezoidal staggered stacking, overall shear resistance improves by 40%, preventing chain reactions from local damage.Silt Curtains: Environmental Compliance & Efficiency Challenges
Pain Point 01
Poor Design Leads To Low Pollution Control, Risk Of Penalties
Customer Concern:
Conventional silt curtains use mixed fabrics sewn together, with overall strength <50% of base material. They fail under wave impact, leading to breakage, excessive turbidity, fishery disputes, fines and suspension risks. Sediment interception is often <60%.
Solution:
Useing high-strength permeable fabric in an integrated structure. Curtain strength = 100% of base fabric. With sandbag ballast (non-corrosive), sediment interception reaches >90%, while dissipating wave energy and ensuring compliance (permeability coefficient 1.5×10⁻³ m/s).Pain Point 02
Poor Durability, Frequent Replacements
Customer Concern:
Standard silt curtains lack UV resistance and seawater durability, lasting less than 1 year. This requires annual replacement, raising offshore operation costs and delaying schedules.
Solution:
Use anti-aging integrated silt curtains, durable for 3 years in seawater, cutting life-cycle cost by 50%.Geotextile Fabrics: Foundation Stability Challenges
Pain Point 01
Low Tensile Strength Causes Excessive Settlement
Customer Concern:
The bearing capacity of the foundation in land reclamation is uneven and traditional geotextiles (tensile strength <30KN/M) are easy to tear, resulting in uneven foundation settlement of more than 300mm, affecting subsequent wharf construction.
Solution:
By selecting high-strength woven geotextile (tensile strength 35KN-250KN/M) and combining it with the “sand-gravel-geotextile” composite cushion design, the uneven settlement of the foundation is controlled within 150mm, meeting the requirements for the later construction of the port terminal.
Pain Point 02
Imbalanced Water Filtration Performance
Customer Concern:
The water filtration rate of geotextile is slow (less than 0.5m/h), which leads to uneven foundation settlement and silt bags, increasing the difficulty of subsequent construction.
Solution:
By optimizing the pore structure of geotextiles (equivalent pore size 0.1-0.3mm), the water filtration rate is increased to 1.2m/h, and the construction efficiency is improved by 60%.Pain Point 03
Insufficient Aging Resistance
Customer Concern:
The aging resistance of the geotextile cannot meet the requirements of one year of natural exposure at the project site. During the exposure process, the geotextile becomes brittle, resulting in uneven settlement.
Solution:
Our geotextiles can withstand 365 days of exposure in any region of the world, with a strength retention rate of more than 70% and an elongation rate of more than 70%, ensuring the fabric is intact.Constructing new marine settlements
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