Coastalock™ Performance on a Permeable Breakwater Slope: Model Tests on the Influence of a Permeable Core, Unit Modifications and Toe Support on the Hydraulic Performance of an Ecological Armour Unit

Coastal areas face increasing threat from erosion. The use of coastal protection structures is imperative to counter this. Concrete “armouring” is widely used due to durability and cost-effectiveness. Conventional methods of “armouring” result in habitat degradation and loss of biodiversity. ECOncrete developed Coastalock, an armour unit...

Sea level rise adaptation of rubble mound breakwaters: An adaptation pathway approach including sea level rise uncertainty and numerical overtopping modelling

If sea level rises faster than anticipated in the initial design of rubble mound breakwaters, a serious threat is posed to their functionality. To limit wave overtopping, breakwaters must be adapted to the rising sea level and subsequent increase in wave loading due to reduced depth-induced wave breaking. However, the...

Curved concrete crownwalls on vertical breakwaters: Finite Element Analysis

Crownwalls are often placed on top of vertical composite breakwaters to reduce overtopping. Adding a seawards facing overhang at the top of crownwalls has successfully reduced overtopping even further without increasing the freeboard of the crownwall. Crownwalls with a fully curved (FC) face are most often used in seawalls where they are...

Computing breakwater stability using SWASH: The effects of model choices, shallow foreshore and oblique waves on the stability of a rubble mound breakwater

On the east coast of Romania, at Eforie, coastal erosion manifests. To strengthen the coastal area a large coastal protection project was setup involving beach nourishment combined with the construction of breakwaters. The breakwaters are designed with the well-known modified Van der Meer formulas. To ensure confidence in the breakwaters...

Hydraulic performance of CoastaLock armour units

With the advance of urbanisation in coastal regions comes an increase in armoured shorelines and the destruction of coastal marine habitats. To combat this, ECOncrete Tech Ltd has developed a new eco-friendly armour unit, the CoastaLock. With its ecological advantages proven, its hydraulic performance is still largely unknown. This thesis aims...

Homogeneous detached composite breakwater: CFD study of the design sensitivities in the 2D geometrical layout using a detached homogeneous low-crested structure to reduce sea wall overtopping

In this research OpenFOAM is used to model and determine the complex hydrodynamic behaviour of a Homogeneous low-crested structure (HLCS) consisting of cubipod artificial concrete elements. The validated model is used to gain insight in the design sensitivities of a two dimensional cross sectional layout to reduce sea wall overtopping. HLCS and...

Modular Hybrid Coastal Protection Structure: Pilot site: Montego Bay, Jamaica

Tourism is one of the main sources of income of Jamaica. . However, at the moment the beaches are retreating. An example is the erosion of Hellshire Beach, showing a retreat of ten meters in only seven years. To preserve the beaches effectively, a new concept is requested. The main requirements of the system are wave attenuation and the marine...

The determination of the feasibility of a 'Sand Breakwater' on the Nigerian coastline at Badagry

The coastal waters of Nigeria are a difficult environment to build structures to control the local morphology and hydrodynamic conditions to ones desire. This difficulty is a consequence of the persistent high-energy swell wave climate and Longshore Sediment Transport (LST) in the order of one million cubic metres per<br/>year. Besides these...

Stability of Single-Layer Cubes on Lee-Side of Breakwaters: Quantative Research on the Stability of a Single Cubic Armour Layer on the Lee-Side of Breakwaters using a Wave Overtopping Simulator

Breakwaters are hydraulic structures used to create calm and steady environments for moored ships in harbors. They dampen the wave by dissipating the energy through wave breaking. Most studies of breakwaters have only been carried out on the seaward slope of the structure. However, few have conducted research on the landward-, inner-, slope of...

Wave dynamics behind a shore-normal breakwater: towards better understanding and modelling of coastal impacts at sandy coasts

Shore-normal breakwaters are constructed in coastal zones both for beach protection (erosion reduction) and port development (wave sheltering). These breakwaters have an effect on the waves, the (wave-driven) currents and hence, the sediment transport along the coast. The waves and tide force an equilibrium sediment transport along the coast in...

Change analysis of laser scans of laboratory rock slopes subject to wave attack testing

For better understanding how coastal structures with gentle slopes behave during high energy events, a wave attack experiment representing a storm of 3000 waves was performed in a flume facility. Two setups with different steepness of slope were compared under the same conditions. In order to quantify changes in the rock slopes after the wave...

Rear-Slope Revetment Stability Approached by the Wave Overtopping Simulator: Experiments Regarding the Stability of Single-Layer Cube Revetment on Breakwater Crests and Rear Slopes

Contrary to a breakwater outer slope, rear-slope revetment does not have to withstand breaking waves. However, generally, an equal dimensioned revetment is used on both the inner- and outer slope. Although with low-crested breakwaters severe overtopping occurs, the application of similarly sized armour on both sides still results in an over...

Summary of model tests on impact forces on Hanstholm breakwaters

Model investigation of wave forces on a caisson breakwater in Hanstholm, Denmark.