Recycled PET as a Modular System for Coastal Slope Stabilisation: A Preliminary Numerical Climate-Adaptation Approach in Chucuito, Callao

Abstract

Vulnerable coastal urban margins face overlapping pressures from erosion, climate change, and plastic-waste accumulation. This study presents a screening-level numerical assessment of a hollow modular unit made of a recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET)– concrete composite, proposed for coastal slope protection and stabilisation in Chucuito, Callao, Peru. A limit-equilibrium baseline indicates that the unprotected slope is marginal to unstable under the site’s seismic demand, motivating the evaluation of a surface-protection concept through a parallel, one-way finite element analysis–computational fluid dynamics (FEA–CFD) framework applied at three slope angles (60◦ , 53◦ , 45◦ ). The FEA structuralresponse screening indicates consistent trends across configurations under an equivalent impact load and the adopted basal restraint. For the hydraulic comparison, inlet velocities of 3, 5 and 7 m/s were anchored to the site-specific Delft3D inundation modelling (site maximum 5 m/s), with a conservative 10 m/s upper bound; relative to a rip-rap reference, the hollow configuration suggests midpoint run-up velocity reductions of approximately 52% at θ = 53◦ under the conservative scenario and ≈57% at 3 and 5 m/s, falling to ≈25% at 7 m/s with overlapping ranges and the simulated free surface exceeding the crest. The CFD free-surface elevations show order-of-magnitude consistency with an indicative EurOtopbased run-up benchmark used as a consistency check rather than as hydraulic validation. Independent of this hydraulic comparison, the hollow geometry saves ≈ 62% of the material volume relative to an equivalent solid concrete block, valorises ≈ 793 post-consumer PET bottles per unit at a 10% dosage, and suggests a 42–58% embodied-CO2 reduction relative to the same solid-concrete reference, driven mainly by the hollow geometry rather than by the PET substitution itself. The results are internally consistent but not experimentally validated and are intended as a comparative baseline to guide subsequent experimental and field studies, in line with Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 11, 12 and 13.