Construction of Breakwaters with Geostructures in Sua Parish in the Atacames Canton of the Esmeraldas Province, Ecuador

The Sua parish is located in northern Ecuador near the border with Colombia, and its coasts are washed west by the Pacific Ocean. Due to the lack of protection works, the parish is constantly faced with problems of saline water intrusion into its territory, with the consequent damages to its inhabitants and the physical infrastructure in general present in the area. The objective of this work is to propose a solution to the problem of floods and undermining in the sector by incorporating special hydrotechnical works into the sea to control the effects of high waves. The solution is made up of walls placed perpendicular to the action of the tides, whose vertical dimensioning has been estimated as a function of wave height for a return period equivalent to 100 years. Design parameters are defined based on the physical variables of the environment such as: wind speed, tidal record, seabed depth, fetch and wind duration. Then the stability of the proposed structure is analyzed for both the wave attack and the strength of the currents. As a result of the analysis, the detail of the protection structures at the plant level, profile and details is presented.