A generic quantitative damage description for rubble mound structures: Investigation of damage to roundheads by using a 3D high-resolution measurement technique in a physical model

Breakwaters are used for reducing wave height in harbours or divert sediment. One of the types of breakwaters is the rubble mound breakwater. These structures are constructed with smaller quarry rock as core and larger quarry rock as outer layer. For economical reasons, the design allows some damage to the armour layer. The amount of damage is...

Wave kinematics inside homogeneous submerged rubble-mound breakwater

Breakwaters are important for the preservation and development of coastal areas. Submerged breakwaters have significant advantages compared to emerged, such as economical construction and preservation, milder effect on landscape and under conditions, preservation of marine flora and fauna inside it. The main objective of this study is to give...

Flow velocity at rubble mound breakwaters

Measurements of flow velocities due to wave action on top of shallow toe structures in front of a rubble mound breakwater. Laboratory tests in the Fluid Mechanics lab, TU Delft.

Stability of wide-graded rubble mounds

The reshaping of temporary rubble mounds like the core of breakwaters or reclamation bunds is often a concern for contractorsi n the construction stages of marine structures. The formulas found in literature for the prediction of such behavior are few, and they do not provide clear insight on the influence of relevant parameters, in particular...

Stresses in tetrapod armour units exposed to wave action

In the late seventies, begin eighties a number of large breakwaters was severely damaged. The armour layer of these breakwaters consisted of slender concrete armour units, like dolosse or tetrapods. It appeared that one of the main reasons of failure of these breakwaters was breakage of the armour units. Obviously, the mechanical strength of the...

Large scale stability tests on the Barcelona breakwater

For the planned expansion of the port of Barcelona, the existing breakwater needs to be extended with 1000 m. The design of the new section has to be optimized and for this purpose experiments were performed in the CIEM flume at the LIM/UPC in Barcelona. The design of the existing breakwater is used as an initial design. An other part of this...