AN ARTIFICIAL BEACH ON TIDAL FLAT: CONSTRUCTION OF WEIFANG ARTIFICIAL BEACH

The Weifang artificial beach is the first nourished beach constructed on a silty tidal flat in China. The tidal current in this area is too weak to move the beach sand, and the main factor to destroy the artificial beach is the strong wave caused by storm surges. In the first-stage of the project, an amount of 330 000 m³ of sand was filled, and 2/3 of the sand was eroded after two storm surges in the winter. The second-stage of the project extended the groins on both east and west sides towards the middle of the beach. Then a new "T" type groin was built in the middle of the beach. Another 33×10⁴ m³ of sand was nourished on the beach. It has remained stable for half a year.