Varadero Beach Erosion Project: Designing a solution for the erosion problem in front of the Iberostar Varadero Hotel

This main objective of this report is to find the cause of the erosion problem and to design a solution for the problematic situation in front of the Iberostar Varadero Hotel, Cuba. This hotel is situated in the eastern part of the Peninsula of Hicacos. For almost 40 years erosion problems are present at this location and need direct attention. To find the causes of erosion the problem is split up in a contribution by basic longshore transport, different cross-shore transports during extreme conditions and transports due to more complex hydrodynamic processes around the Iberostar Hotel. For the basic longshore transport the model Unibest LT is used to calculate the quantities and distribution of the longshore sediment transport over the cross-shore profile. For the contribution of cross-shore processes to the erosion problem, the model XBeach is used. After calibrating the 1D model, the model is extended to a 2D model, with a full 2D wave input by SWAN. For the transport due to more complex hydrodynamic processes Delft3D is used. During the analysis some interesting flow patterns are found, which explains why there is structural erosion at the Iberostar Hotel. It turns out that the causes of erosion can be subscribed to a combination of two processes. Firstly, the general westward directed flow causes erosion west of the headland. Secondly, complex flow patterns occur during northwest wave conditions which often also cause erosion in front of the Iberostar Hotel. The negative influence of both processes on the recovery of the beach after storm and hurricane conditions is important. After explaining the causes of erosion the optimal solution for the structural erosion is investigated. Three final solutions have been checked by a MCA and cost analysis, and in the end the nourishment turned out to be the optimal solution. The nourishment is further optimised and the behaviour is modelled for multiple years. After modelling of the solution it seems that a nourishment of 100,000 m3 is sufficient to provide a good beach width for a period of 5 years. It also turned out that the construction time and construction method of the nourishment are very important. With this in mind, the following solution is proposed. A beach nourishment of 100,000 m3 in front of the Iberostar hotel, with a lifetime of 5 years and an approximate total cost of 1.1 million CUC. Since the erosion problems are structural, new nourishments are needed in the future. When making a nourishment maintenance schedule, costs can be saved. In that case, for a period of 50 years, the costs can be decreased to 12.8 million CUC, taking into account additional nourishments after possibly occurring hurricanes and extreme events. In this way the structural erosion problems can be dealt with in a cost effective, visually attractive and flexible way