Beach preservation system

Abstract

Triple dewatering pipe recovery lines with dual pumping stations are installed underneath and along 1,000 feet of beach face on a predetermined centerline. The recovery lines are positioned at different depths with an overall length of approximately 1,400 linear feet each. This length will include a needed length to connect with the pumping stations located away from the beach. The triple lines will be spaced vertically over a height of approximately 6 feet and extend to a maximum depth of 8-12 feet and will be an 8-inch diameter HDPE well screen covered with a two ply filter fabric. The lines are also spaced laterally in a pattern of the adjacent receding coast line. Each progressively lower line will be approximately two feet closer to the ocean. The trench width will be approximately 18 inches and will be backfilled with the natural beach sands below ground surface.

Description

This is a complete application claiming benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Appln. Ser. No. 61/344,359, filed Jul. 6, 2010, hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for reclaiming beach sand by removing sea water from a shoreline of a beach so as to retain sand carried by impacting waves.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

There is a continued need to maintain and expand sand beach fronts along the coastlines. These beach fronts maintain the integrity of a buffer or barrier between the ocean and the interior land. This buffer is not only important for safety of the residents along a beach front, but also for the economic value of tourism enabled by the continued presence of a beach front.

Many different methods have been devised for maintaining the sand at a beach front. This has included off-shore dredging of the ocean to move sand to the beach front, as well as the trucking of sand from the interior land portions to the beach front. These efforts are undertaken at great expense and have proven to provide only short term solutions. Due to the constant wave action at the coastline, the landscape of the beach front is continuously changing, most often to the detriment of the coastline.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to develop a beach preservation system which supplements the sand at a beach front with sand adjacent to the beach front as the beach front's wave action deposit sand particles onto an existing beach front.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a unique demonstration of what a permanent dewatering system can accomplish in the preservation of one of our most precious resources, our beaches. The components are all aesthetically pleasing, installed below ground level under the beach face and out of sight. Once installed and operated as recommended under normal conditions, the present invention will stop further loss of sand from most sections of beach where the installation is made and then after continued operation, accretion of the beach will occur. Beaches can thereby be renewed by copying the “natural process of accretion” giving wildlife access to beaches that have been destroyed or are too small for nesting areas. Beach preservation can be made available and affordable to coastal states and counties.

Beach geology generally consists primarily of medium to coarse sands to ten feet below the beach surface. To prepare for a typical installation of the present invention, geological studies will be completed before any installation of the system begins.

Triple dewatering pipe recovery lines with dual pumping stations are installed underneath and along 1,000 feet of beach face on a predetermined centerline. Installation of the pipes may be accomplished in accordance with U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,871,281 and 4,927,292, hereby incorporated in their entirety by reference.

The recovery lines are positioned at different depths with an overall length of approximately 1,400 linear feet each. This length will include a needed length to connect with the pumping stations located away from the beach. The triple lines will be spaced vertically over a height of approximately 6 feet and extend to a maximum depth of 8-12 feet and will be an 8 inch diameter HDPE well screen covered with a two ply filter fabric. The lines are also spaced laterally in a pattern of the adjacent receding coast line. Each progressively lower line will be approximately two feet closer to the ocean. The trench width will be approximately 18 inches and will be backfilled with the natural beach sands below ground surface.

The trenching and delivery operation cuts a nominal 18-inch wide trench and in one-pass installs semi vertical risers connected to the horizontal pipe screens. The trench is continuously backfilled with the natural beach sands. There are no open trenches and de-watering is not required for installation.

An installation machine is readied by attaching a cutting boom and a dewatering pipe delivery system. The trench will be excavated from ground surface to a required depth. The 8 inch screened dewatering pipes will be laid on design grades at different depths and are fed through the delivery system. The dewatering pipes are attached to a semi vertical 10 inch pump station riser that is placed on the back of the delivery system.

The cutting boom excavates separate trenches and installs pump station risers and the dewatering pipe screens, parallel to each other under the beach face. The screens will then be installed to the designed length and depths. The dewatering pipes are then connected to a suction manifold system inside the pump housing chambers and the manifolds are connected to high performance vacuum pumps that remove a large quantity of water from the pipes placed under the beach face creating a dewatering zone under the beach face, stabilizing the beach face.

As waves break on the stabilized beach face each wave has a little sand in suspension in the water creating the wave. The dewatered zone beneath the beach face will absorb some of the wave energy water from each wave, remove the sand from suspension in that wave water and deposit this sand on the beach face. Continued dewatering of the beach face will cause the sand to accrete and over time the beach will grow until the new beach extends beyond the influence of the dewatering pipe screens.

After the beach has grown, new screens can be placed again under the new beach face and hooked up to the same pumping system to continue to stabilize and build a further extension of the new beach face. Installation and operation of this system will mitigate costly beach restoration projects that require sand to be pumped in. The system can be used after costly beach sand pumping or hauling restoration projects have been completed to hold expensive imported sand in place.

This system is unique in that it will attract sand from several sources and all of that sand will be compatible with the sand on the beach. A lot of current problems with beach re-nourishment projects are sand incompatibility. Conventional renourishment projects import sand from inland sources or off-shore sources and most times far away from the beach being treated. The present invention can be installed on newly filled or dredged filled beaches to keep the sand in place and stop the never ending “pump sand in and watch it wash away” syndrome.

The system of the present invention will attract some of the sand that is transported by the beach with ocean currents, and will also attract sand from the ocean floor adjacent to the beach face. Each wave will bring a small amount of sand from the ocean floor, thus deepening the ocean by a few inches while piling sand from the ocean floor on the beach face.

A directional drill is used to install approximately 600 linear feet of 6-10 inch water discharge pipe from each pump station into the ocean. The end of the discharge pipe is installed approximately 100 feet off shore and approximately 6 feet under the ocean floor before exiting upward through the ocean floor and into the surf.

The end of the discharge pipe will be fitted with a flexible pipe diffuser with a small marker buoy attached to identify the end of the discharge pipe. Pump station water could also be discharged along jetties or into the rip rap that may be placed along natural passes to the oceans. The discharge water can also be directed inland to flush marinas or the intra-coastal waterway.

It is therefore another object of the present invention to provide a beach preservation system having a series of at least three vertically spaced dewatering pipes spaced along a length of beach front.

It is therefore another object of the present invention to provide a beach preservation system having a series of at least three vertically spaced dewatering pipes spaced along a length of beach front with the pipes also being horizontally spaced so as to provide a large area of the beach front being dewatered on a continuous basis.

It is still yet another object of the present invention to provide a beach preservation system having a series of at least three vertically spaced dewatering pipes spaced along a length of beach front with the pipes also being horizontally spaced so as to provide a large area of the beach front being dewatered on a continuous basis with the at least three dewatering pipes feeding sea water to a pumping station and the pumping station propelling the sea water back into the ocean at a distance spaced from the dewatering pipes.

It is still yet another object of the present invention to provide a beach preservation system having a series of at least three vertically spaced dewatering pipes spaced along a length of beach front with the pipes also being horizontally spaced so as to provide a large area of the beach front being dewatered on a continuous basis with the at least three dewatering pipes feeding sea water to a pumping station and the pumping station propelling the sea water back into the ocean at a distance spaced from the dewatering pipes with the entire process continued until the beach front is extended beyond the pre-existing shoreline such that additional dewatering pipes may be installed to continue the process to increase the width of the beach front.

These and other objects of the invention, as well as many of the intended advantages thereof, will become more readily apparent when reference is made to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The following drawings illustrate examples of various components of the invention disclosed herein, and are for illustrative purposes only. Other embodiments that are substantially similar can use other components that have a different appearance.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view illustrating three horizontally extending dewatering pipes which are vertically spaced one above the other and offset horizontally with respect to each other to feed collected sea water to a pumping station and the return of the collected sea water back into the ocean.

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of the layout of the dewatering pipes and return lines with respect to a body of water.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In describing a preferred embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings, specific terminology will be resorted to for the sake of clarity. However, the invention is not intended to be limited to the specific terms so selected, and it is to be understood that each specific term includes all technical equivalents which operate in a similar manner to accomplish a similar purpose.

With reference to the drawings, in general, to FIGS. 1 and 2, a beach preservation system embodying the teachings of the subject invention is generally designated as 10. With reference to its orientation in FIG. 1, the beach preservation system operates in a coastal beach area 12 to which the action of waves from the ocean 14 are encountered. The ocean's level varies from a low tide level 16 to that of a high tide level 18. As is known, the action of storms on the coastal area tends to, over time, lower the level of sand found at the beach area.

To overcome the reduction of sand so as to maintain or increase the presence of sand in coastal area 12, a series of at least two, and preferably at least three, dewatering pipes 20, 22 and 24 extend horizontally through the coastal area for a length of approximately 1,000 feet. The vertical spacing between the dewatering pipes is approximately two to four feet between one dewatering pipe and the next adjacent dewatering pipe. The pipes are also horizontally spaced by a similar distance of two to four feet to offset the extent of reach of the dewatering pipes into the slope of the coastal area. Accordingly, the lowermost pipe 24 is spaced furthest away from the interior land mass in accordance with the slope 26 of the shoreline forming the coastal area.

At opposite ends of each of the dewatering pipes 20, 22 and 24, an approximately right angle water transmission line 20A, 22A, 24A and 20B, 22B and 24B, respectively, are formed. Each of the water transmission lines 20A, 22A, 24A terminate in a manifold 28 of pumping station 30 having pump 32 for drawing the water collected in horizontally extended dewatering lines 20, 22, 24 up into the pumping station 30. Similarly, water transmission lines 20B, 22B, 24B extend into a common manifold of pumping station 34 having pump 36.

Pumps 32 and 36 are operable 24 hours a day, seven days a week to evacuate water from the dewatering lines 20, 22 and 24 and their associated water transmission lines at the opposite ends of the dewatering pipes. Therefore, as waves break on the shoreline 26, the water of the wave is allowed to penetrate in the direction of arrow 38 to move the water of the waves downwardly through the sand and into the dewatering pipes 20, 22, 24. By the downward movement of this water, any sand particles present in the wave water are deposited upon the shoreline 26.

Over time, the particles of sand collect and serve to maintain or increase the horizontal extent of the shoreline towards the ocean. The action of the waves depositing the sand particles onto the shoreline is of a greater extent than would naturally occur due to the constant evacuation of sea water from the shoreline by the dewatering lines. The availability of the shoreline to retain wave water due to the constant evacuation of water at a depth below the surface, allows for a natural depositing to a greater extent than would normally occur of the sand particles.

At the pumping stations 30, 34, a return line 40 is provided for pumping station 30 and return line 42 for pumping station 34. As shown in FIG. 1, the terminal end 44 of the return line allows collected sea water to be returned into the ocean at a distance from the collecting dewatering pipes 20, 22, 24. Therefore, there is a constant cycle of water collection and discharging of collected water back into the ocean.

Alternatively, one or both of the pumping stations 30, 34 includes a land discharge line 46, 48, respectively, for an alternate use of the collected sea water. The water discharge from lines 46, 48 can be used for replenishing marina water, as well as other uses. A valve 50 is operable to control the direction of flow of the collected sea water, either back into the ocean or to an alternate land directional use.

The foregoing description should be considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and, accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A beach stabilization and dewatering system comprising

a plurality of elongated dewatering pipes buried in a shoreline area of a beach, said plurality of elongated dewatering pipes being vertically and horizontally offset from each other in a pattern following an inclination of the shoreline, and

opposed ends of the elongated dewatering pipes being connected to a pumping station for removal of water from the shoreline and transfer of water collected at the shoreline by the elongated dewatering pipes.

2. The beach stabilization and dewatering system of claim 1, wherein there are two spaced pumping stations.

3. The beach stabilization and dewatering system of claim 2, wherein a transfer line connects the opposed ends of the elongated dewatering pipes to a respective pumping station.

4. The beach stabilization and dewatering system of claim 1, wherein the elongated dewatering pipes are progressively spaced at an equal separation distance in a vertically offset alignment.

5. The beach stabilization and dewatering system of claim 1, wherein the elongated dewatering pipes are progressively spaced at an equal separation distance in a horizontally offset alignment.

6. The beach stabilization and dewatering system of claim 1, wherein a water return line extends from the pumping stations and extends under the dewatering pipes into the body of water.

7. The beach stabilization and dewatering system of claim 1, wherein a water return line extends from the pumping stations and extends inland.

8. The beach stabilization and dewatering system of claim 6, wherein a valve controls a direction of water from the pumping stations.

9. A method of beach preservation, said method comprising

excavating a first trench and depositing a first dewatering pipe in the trench in a beach front location,

excavating a second trench and depositing a second dewatering pipe vertically above the first dewatering pipe and horizontally offset from the first dewatering pipe in an inland direction away from the first dewatering pipe,

connecting the first and the second dewatering pipes to two spaced pumping stations, and

excavating water from the first and the second dewatering pipes by the two pumping stations and transferring the evacuated water to one of the water adjacent to the beach front location and inland.

10. The method of beach preservation of claim 9, wherein a third trench is excavated and a third dewatering pipe is deposited vertically above the second dewatering pipe and horizontally offset from the second dewatering pipe in the inland direction away from the second dewatering pipe.

11. The method beach stabilization and dewatering system of claim 9, wherein the pumping stations include a valve for selecting the one of transferring the evacuated water to the beach front location or inland.

12. The method of beach preservation of claim 9, wherein opposed ends of the first and the second dewatering pipes are connected to the pumping stations by vertically rising transfer lines.

13. The method of beach preservation of claim 9, wherein when the evacuated water is transferred from the pumping stations to the water adjacent to the beach front, a transfer line extends at least 100 feet offshore.

14. The method of beach preservation of claim 10, wherein the first, the second and the third dewatering pipes extend parallel to each other and parallel to a shoreline of the beach front location.