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Artificial island made with dredged material - combining development with environmentally friendly solutions

Presented during:

CEDA Dredging Days 2012 - Virtue, Venture and Vision in the Coastal Zone

Authors:

Recio J and Surisetty M - Worley Parsons Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Belle A - National Marine Dredging Company, United Arab Emirates

Abstract: The UAE has gained international recognition due to the large scale and rapid construction of its massive projects in coastal and marine areas. With Abu Dhabi's ever growing oil and gas industry, new terminal, ports, navigation channels and jetties are constantly being developed, creating design, environmental and construction challenges. The paper presents a case study from Abu Dhabi, UAE where a new navigation  channel needed to be constructed to satisfy the growing demand of a sulphur handling terminal. The channel creation required the dredging and disposal of approx. 21 million m3 of dredged material. The paper describes the disposal alternatives that were investigated at the planning stages of the project including: (i) onshore disposal, (ii) off-shore disposal, and (iii) creation of an artificial island. The advantages and disadvantages of each alternative in terms of cost, construction time and environmental impacts dictated that an artificial emerged island is the best solution for the project. The emerged island has considerable environmental advantages such as provisions for creating a mangrove area and areas for migrating birds. The design and construction process of the island used state of the art numerical models to quantify the influence that the island will have on wave/currents, environmental sensitive areas and existing future seawater intakes and outfalls. The model  application also ensures the island stability against operational and extreme storms. The paper also presents the lessons learnt and recommendations for the creation of future artificial islands in the region.