An assessment of breakwaters on hydrodynamic regime & morphology of Quang Hung – Quang Dai beach during monsoons

Abstract

     Located at the Gulf of Tonkin, Sầm Sơn has 9km of coastline with many flat beaches, fine sand, moderate waves, suitable for swimming and relaxing. Over the past 10 years, some sections of the shoreline have been naturally eroded. Especially, at several locations, the erosion has become more severe after the construction of protection structures such as revetments and seawalls. Considering the tourism industry as the key to development, it is practically significant to study solutions to upgrade and protect many beaches of this city. Therefore, 3 measures of coast protection have been proposed and analyzed to protect 900 m of shoreline in Quảng Hùng – Quảng Đại communes. We modelled and evaluated the impact of the detached breakwaters on the hydrodynamic regime and bathymetry change. During monsoons NE and SW, wave height and current velocity behind the breakwaters are clearly reduced and the beach stabilization is enhanced compared to the present condition