Das Island, Abu Dhabi
Das Island, Abu Dhabi, is enlarged by land reclamation. Xbloc armour units were applied as shore protection. The project was carried out by Van Oord. The Xblocs were cast by Sixco in Ajman, UAE.
The size of the Xblocs applied is 3 m3. The Xblocs were cast in steel moulds, using the horizontal casting method. The mould consists of two parts; a bottom part which includes the bottom nose and a top part with 4 hinging side shutters. The Xbloc is pushed out of the bottom mould by 4 jacks and then lifted onto a trailer by crane. Two Xblocs were cast per mould per day.
Model testing has been carried out at Deltares in Delft, The Netherlands, and DHI in Denmark.
The Xbloc project at Das Island is the second Xbloc project carried out by Van Oord.
Xbloc placement has been done by hydraulic excavator (Van Oord and Sixco). Placement has been assisted by underwater camera, Echoscope 3D sonar and Idmer divers.
Location
Project milestones
- Start of casting: June 2011
- Trial placement: July 2011
- Start placement: August 2011
- Completion placement:August 2012
Project details
- Hs = 5.2 m
- Length of shore protection = 4.3 km
- Size of Xblocs = 3.0 m3
- Number of units = 33,000
