Boskalis developing new Building with Nature solution for coastal protection

Protecting coastal areas and islands against rising sea levels and the forces of waves requires big equipment and major work.

But before interfering in an existing ecosystem, people naturally want to know whether the measures they have devised will hold up in practice.

With that in mind, Boskalis recently conducted an interesting and very useful test program at Deltares’ well-known Delta Flume in Delft, the Netherlands.

As part of the Artificial Reefs Program, Boskalis is exploring various possibilities to deploy artificial reefs as a coastal protection mechanism.

The reasoning is relatively simple. Because when a coastal reef manages to break waves – thereby reducing their force – less erosion occurs on the coast, potentially also reducing the amount of rock needed to protect the vulnerable coast.

Using 150 3D printed scale models of artificial reefs from Coastruction and another 11 modular reefs from ReefSystems, previously installed by Boskalis off the coast of Kenya, this theory was tested at a 1:3 scale.

This was done in close cooperation with project leader TU Delft and the University of Plymouth. Boskalis is currently analyzing the data and continuing to develop this Building with Nature solution for coastal protection, with the aim of putting this solution into practice on a much larger scale.

To learn more about the Artificial Reefs Program, please check out Boskalis website.