An Analysis of the Physical Coastal System along East Coast Park, Singapore

Abstract

East Coast Park is a 15 km long coastal park along the southeast coast of Singapore. It is built on entirely reclaimed land and comprises a sandy shoreline. The beaches along this shoreline are formed due to the implementation of anthropogenic structures all along this stretch of coast through so-called headland control. These structures were meant to stabilise the newly reclaimed land, which was placed on top of a thick layer of marine clay. In time, however, several phenomena have occurred along this new stretch of coast, indicating coastline retreat due to erosion and in some cases flooding of the coastal area. Researchers of the EcoShape Consortium have therefore decided to investigate the possibility of applying the so-called Building with Nature principles in solutions to coastline retreat along East Coast Park, resulting in the East Coast Park design pilot. A key aspect in this investigation is the understanding of the underlying coastal processes, which has resulted in the study of this thesis. In this thesis an analysis is made of knowledge to date and a conceptual model is developed to analyse coastal processes on both a small and a large scale. Driving forces underlying these processes are waves, the tide, monsoons and relative sea level rise. On the large scale the influence of waves, the tide and relative sea level rise on the coastal morphology is assessed (semi-)quantitatively using numerical modelling tools Delft3D, Unibest-TC and Unibest-LT, and also using nautical charts and satellite imagery. On this scale the presence of anthropogenic structures is neglected. On the small scale the presence of structures is included. Due to insufficiently readily available data the assessment is made more quantitatively, using satellite imagery and photographs.