Design and Supervision of Beach Enhancement and Structural Erosion Protection

Smith Warner designed the beach enhancement, modified an existing breakwater, and designed three reef-like submerged breakwaters to provide erosion protection from swell and hurricane waves along a 1,500-foot long section of the Grand Hyatt Baha Mar’s beach. We collected data to validate numerical models simulating waves, currents, and sediment transport processes. The complex seabed and wave climate required us also to build a 3D physical model to study how the beach would respond to the structures in our proposed layouts. Smith Warner supervised construction when the structures were built.