ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT Soil bioengineering techniques for riverbank protection are nature-based engineering solutions fulfilling both erosion control and ecological functions. In general dimensioning and impact assessment of potential soil bioengineering interventions are the basis and precondition to establishing soil bioengineering as standardized hydraulic and civil engineering measures. Nevertheless, very few dimensioning methods exist, which is the main obstacle standing in the way of mainstreaming bioengineering techniques. In this study, 18 bioengineering constructions that have resisted alpine flood events were documented and analyzed empirically. They were classified according to stream slope, shear stress and age since completion. The maximum river longitudinal slope was 2.5%. We also considered six experimental works built in the Geni'Alp project, over these limits of use, with river longitudinal slope in the 4–10% range as well as the shear stress resistance values of riverbank bioengineering works from the literature. These 21 new sites from the literature, comprising a wide variety of bioengineering techniques, and the Geni'Alp experimental works were analyzed. Finally, 21 shear values for river reaches implementing 51 bioengineering techniques were calculated for the maximum past flood, taking into account the most relevant local hydraulic conditions.
