Three-dimensional woven geotextiles for containment dike construction: Fid-Bau Portal

Three-dimensional woven geotextiles for containment dike construction

Austin, D.N. / Theisen, M.S.

Every year, approximately 300 million m³ of sediment is dredged from the United States' waterways. Although the primary purpose is to increase navigational capacities of channels, engineers are constantly seeking more effective and environmentally acceptable disposal methods for dredged materials. When the Port of Houston Authority faced this challenge, the Beneficial Uses Group (BUG) decided to utilize dredged material from the Houston Ship Channel to construct over 1,720 hectares of intertidal salt marshes. Starting in February 1994, three geosynthetic materials were installed along 1,000 meters of the dredged material containment levee at a demonstration marsh built on the east side of Atkinson Island. Proposed as possible costeffective alternatives to conventional riprap, the three materials chosen included a cellular confinement system, fabricated geotextile tubes, and a three-dimensional woven geotextile for the shoreline protection. The three-dimensional woven geotextile was installed on 2H:1V slopes and secured using anchor trenches, hairpin-shaped reinforcing steel bar and duckbill anchors. To date, the product has helped to maintain a stable, non-errosive levee and promoted diversified aquatic vegetation. The paper describes the background, selection, installation, and performance of the three-dimensional woven geotextile used for erosion protection along 122 meters of levee on this demonstration project. Chronological data, field observations and photographs are included to compliment the observations and conclusions made by the authors, and others, from the time of installation to present.