Gaeta port embankment

Italy, Porto di Gaeta (LT)
PET mattresses for erosion control

Problem:
today Gaeta port has 900 m berths and a 12,000 m2 yard. An additional 500 m berths, a 60.000 m2 area for handling goods, buildings for handling and storing containers, as well as roads are all under construction, covering an area of 20.000 m2.
Specifically, in terms of the expansion of the current port, which involves excavation in the forecourt of the South Side bank quay and the head of the Salvo d’Acquisto pier, the following works must be performed: a 314 m extension of the current Cicconardi quay, excavation of the existing sea-bed to a depth of 10 m below sea level, and construction of a sediment basin. It is necessary to protect the perimeter and internal embankments of the sediment basin, in quarry material.
Protection is required from both the external waves and the lengthwise current from the drainage channel (Arzano pit) that laps a section of the banks.

Solution:
the geosynthetic product used to protect the embankments is the SintexMattress filter point mattress, woven shuttering capable of holding concrete mix or bentonite blends, equipped with filter points capable of lowering the hydraulic overpressure that can be generated following the cyclical loads caused by wave motion.
Calculations were performed to determine the stability of the mattress, both compared to the incident wave and to the longitudinal current. They showed that a 13 cm thick mattress can provide adequate protection from erosion. Special attention was required for laying of the materials.
The concrete mix blend used to fill the SintexMattress® filter point was developed specifically to obtain a mixture that maintains adequate fluidity and processability until the woven shuttering was filled.