General Approach to Bank Stabilization
The salient point is that before beginning the design of bank stabilization works, the
concepts and tools presented in the previous chapters on channel stability should be applied
systematically and analytically to identify the processes and causes of instability. That analysis
may lead to the conclusion that appropriate alternative solutions may involve more than site-
specific bank stabilization. Finally, the planner should be aware of other factors which may
be peripheral to traditional engineering, but which are essential for a successful project,
regardless of scope. This chapter presents a conceptual discussion of those alternatives and
factors.
4.1 CONSIDERATION OF AVAILABLE ALTERNATIVES
Problems of river instability in general can be addressed by one or more of the
following approaches:
River Basin Management
Land treatment
Reservoirs
Bed Stabilization
Site-Specific Bank Stabilization
Relocation of Stream or Endangered Facility
Non-structural Solutions
Regulation of navigation
Regulation of reservoir releases
The detailed planning and design of the first two alternatives is complex, and beyond
the scope of this text. However, the discussion in this section will serve to set them in
perspective for the detailed presentation in Chapters 5 through 11 of the selection, design,
construction, and maintenance of site-specific bank stabilization, and the presentation in
Chapter 12 of concepts of bed stabilization. The last two alternatives are limited in
applicability and effectiveness, but consideration of them may be appropriate in some
circumstances.
Technical capability to analyze these alternatives is rapidly improving, not only
through increased knowledge of river processes, but also through rapid advances in the
computational capacity of computers which makes numerical models more powerful.
Unfortunately, constraints on time and funds often precludes full application of the more
advanced technical tools which are available.
If a problem is purely local, and authority to address a wider project scope does not
exist, then the following discussion is academic to a reader searching only for guidance for
a conventional approach to bank stabilization. However, if project authority is broader, then
the optimum solution may include other components. For example, flood control projects and
river restoration schemes may require the evaluation of channel system response to changes
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