Studies for groin design and dredging of Guanabo River's inlet, Playas del Este, Havana City, Cuba

Guanabo River has its mouth between Macao and Veneciana Beaches (Playas del Este, Havana City). Its estuary, used as a sports-fishing base and for boat repair, intends to widen its capacity. Therefore, two groins were built and a channel was dredged, permitting the access to the inlet. At present, the existence of sedimentation in the interior of the channel that hinders the avenue of the:river as well as the navigation possibility, united to important structural damages of the groins, are the factors that have conditioned the proposal of a new design for the groins. The objective of this paper is the determination of technical parameters referred to the length, direction and height of the groins for the execution of a new design, as well as the extension and volume of sand accumulation, the dredging depth and the sites for pouring the sediment. The trials accomplished for 4 variants permitted to determine that the optimum design configuration consists of extending the length of the western groin in 30 m, preserving the current direction. The volume of Sand accumulated in the channel is calculated in 28 512 m(3). The dredging of Guanabo River's inlet is part of the actions for the regeneration of Macao - Veneciana coastal sector. Therefore, the optimum solution to the problem of pouring the dredged sand is the artificial nourishment of the surrounding beaches.