Geotextile Bags and Tubes for Beach and Riverbank Restoration

There is an increasing popularity on the use of geotextile tubes and bags for different sizes and shapes for coastal, beach and river bank application in this region over the last 10 years. These geotextile bags, tubes, and containers are basically functioned as either a gravity mass as part of containment bunds; or massive surface protection for beach stabilization and restoration, or vegetated erosion control slope protection for river bank and riverfront; or a mean of dewatering of soft sediments contained inside. This paper summarizes the two recent projects in Singapore and Malaysia: (a) Beach restoration using specially designed geotextiles bags, and (b) Riverfront restoration using combination of geotextiles tubes and bags. It highlights the innovative and cost effective solution in these applications. For the beach restoration project in Singapore, stacked geotextile bags have been used to reconstruct the eroded shoreline due to the wave action on the beaches along the east coast of Singapore. For the riverfront project that involved reclamation and slope protection in Malaysia, geotextile tubes and bags are used as an alternative design to the conventional armor rock system and anchored bulkhead.