scholarly journals THE STABILITY OF RUBBLE MOUND BREAKWATERS AGAINST IRREGULAR WAVES

1966 ◽  
Vol 1 (10) ◽  
pp. 54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Torkild Carstens ◽  
Alf Torum ◽  
Anton Tratteberg

Through extensive model tests with rubble mound breakwaters conducted in many laboratories in recent years design criteria and stability data have been collected. To our knowledge such data have been based on tests with regular waves only. It has been more or less accepted that the destructive effect of a train of regular waves corresponds to a confused sea with a significant wave height equal to the height of the regular waves. At the Rxver and Harbour Research Laboratory at the Technical University of Norway a new wave channel has been equipped with a programmed wave generator which can produce irregular waves wxth any wanted wave spectrum. This paper deals with model tests of the stability of rubble mound breakwaters against irregular waves as compared with regular waves.

1976 ◽  
Vol 1 (15) ◽  
pp. 157
Author(s):  
Yvon Ouellet ◽  
Pierre Eubanks

This paper describes the results of an experimental study on the effect of waves on rubble-mound breakwaters, wave transmission subsequent to wave overtopping, the stability of the three sides subjected to wave action and the effect of the breakwaters on waves. Two different rubble-mound breakwaters were tested, i. e. one with a rigid impermeable crest and the other with a flexible permeable crest. Tests were performed with both regular and irregular wave train systems. To obtain the simulated irregular wave trains, four theoretical spectra were chosen: Neumann, Bretschneider, Moskowitz, and Scott. Results obtained from tests with irregular wave trains were compared to those obtained from tests with regular wave trains. It was found that more information was obtained on the behaviour of the structure when it was submitted to the attack of irregular waves than when submitted to regular waves, and that the use of irregular wave trains gave more interesting results.


2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (8) ◽  
pp. 26
Author(s):  
Anton Brandtzaeg

In the improvement of design criteria for the layer of cover blocks on rubble mound breakwaters important advance has been made in recent years (l), (2), (3). Still, some points seem to require further study, among them the effect of the specific weights of block material and fluid on the stability of the cover. In this respect the magnitude of the fluid accelerations involved, of which little information is available may be of some importance. For evaluation of the acceleratic as well as for other purposes, a roughly approximate mathematic description of the motion of the water rushing up and down the breakwater front may be of some use. This motion certainly is neither steady nor uniform. Visual and photographic observation through the glass panel a wave channel seems to indicate, however, that unsteadiness the more important characteristic of the motion during the up and downrush proper. It seems reasonable, therefore, to att€ a first approximation to a description of the motion by neglecting, to a certain extent, its non-uniformity. Necessarily, the same time also the requirement of continuity must be partly disregarded. In the following a mathematical model based on this point of view is presented for consideration. It is believed that by means of this model values of displacements, velocity and accelerations can be calculated, which may reasonably be considered as useful, although quite rough, approximations t< the actual values. For a few particular cases, experimental evidence is reported. The model has reference only to the up- and downrush proper, that is, to the motion of the water above some limit level, at or somewhat below the Still Water Line (referred t< hereafter as the StflL). The motion below this level, where tl downrush meets the oncoming next wave, could hardly be conee of as being uniform.


2012 ◽  
pp. 1499-1506
Author(s):  
Gregorio Iglesias Rodriguez ◽  
Alberte Castro Ponte ◽  
Rodrigo Carballo Sanchez ◽  
Miguel Ángel Losada Rodriguez

Breakwaters are coastal structures constructed to shelter a harbour basin from waves. There are two main types: rubble-mound breakwaters, consisting of various layers of stones or concrete pieces of different sizes (weights), making up a porous mound; and vertical breakwaters, impermeable and monolythic, habitually composed of concrete caissons. This article deals with rubble-mound breakwaters. A typical rubble-mound breakwater consists of an armour layer, a filter layer and a core. For the breakwater to be stable, the armour layer units (stones or concrete pieces) must not be removed by wave action. Stability is basically achieved by weight. Certain types of concrete pieces are capable of achieving a high degree of interlocking, which contributes to stability by impeding the removal of a single unit. The forces that an armour unit must withstand under wave action depend on the hydrodynamics on the breakwater slope, which are extremely complex due to wave breaking and the porous nature of the structure. A detailed description of the flow has not been achieved until now, and it is unclear whether it will be in the future in view of the turbulent phenomena involved. Therefore the instantaneous force exerted on an armour unit is not, at least for the time being, amenable to determination by means of a numerical model of the flow. For this reason, empirical formulations are used in rubble-mound design, calibrated on the basis of laboratory tests of model structures. However, these formulations cannot take into account all the aspects affecting the stability, mainly because the inherent complexity of the problem does not lend itself to a simple treatment. Consequently the empirical formulations are used as a predesign tool, and physical model tests in a wave flume of the particular design in question under the pertinent sea climate conditions are de rigueur, except for minor structures. The physical model tests naturally integrate all the complexity of the problem. Their drawback lies in that they are expensive and time consuming. In this article, Artificial Neural Networks are trained and tested with the results of stability tests carried out on a model breakwater. They are shown to reproduce very closely the behaviour of the physical model in the wave flume. Thus an ANN model, if trained and tested with sufficient data, may be used in lieu of the physical model tests. A virtual laboratory of this kind will save time and money with respect to the conventional procedure.


1966 ◽  
Vol 1 (10) ◽  
pp. 57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anton Brandtzaeg

To study the effect of the specific weights of armour block material and fluid on the stability of rubble mound breakwaters a total of 110 model tests were made, with varying specific weights of armour and fluid, sizes of blocks and slopes of the breakwater face. The tests indicate that in cases where the specific weights deviate much from usual values, the current design formula (Eq. (1)) should be modified by entering a variable quantity,


1982 ◽  
Vol 1 (18) ◽  
pp. 128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katsutoshi Tanimoto ◽  
Tadahiko Yagyu ◽  
Yoshimi Goda

The stability of armor units for the rubble mound foundations of composite breakwaters has been investigated under the action of irregular waves. The tests establish that irregular waves are more destructive than regular waves, when the height of regular waves is set equal to the significant wave height. The stability number, defined by Hudson, for quarry stones and concrete blocks with simple shapes is formulated on the basis of irregular wave tests. The stability number is expressed by two parameters of h'7/7]/3 and K, where h' is the crest depth of the rubble mound foundation, #1/3 is the design significant wave height, and K is a parameter for the combined effects of the relative water depth and the relative berm width of the rubble mound foundation to the wavelength. The design mass of armor units can be calculated by the stability equation with the stability number. The application of the proposed method to the results of the irregular wave tests demonstrates that the damage percent for the quarry stones is at most 3.5% at the design condition and the damage progresses rather gradually for the action of higher waves. On the other hand, the damage of the concrete blocks almost jumps beyond the design wave height. In particular, the drastic damage is often caused in the case of high rubble mound foundations. The proposed method is confirmed, however, to be applicable for the ordinary low mound foundations with a sufficient safety.


2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (7) ◽  
pp. 34
Author(s):  
Jose Joaquim Reis De Carvalho ◽  
Daniel Vera-Cruz

Until the beginning of the second quarter of the present century, characteristics of rubble-mound breakwaters were determined by entirely empirical methods, although harbour engineers had been deal ing with this problem for man;> centuries. As a rule, designers merely compared the case under study with existing structures, prescribing sturdier breakwaters when those located in shores with a similar exposure had not withstood the most violent storms acting on them. The first empirical formula for breakwater design did not appear before 1933, but this and other similar formulas did not go beyond ordering and reducing the use of arbitrary methods in the choice of the elements making up the breakwater slopes more directly subjected to wave action; no sensible progress resulting there? From for the design methods of these structures.lt can even be stated that, due to the use of Iribarren's formula - the most widely used in Europe - which leads to the utilization of too heavy blocks placed in steep slopes (about ^/3)» a tendency began to be observed in designers, towards a considerable reduction of these slopes. Such a situation which, bearing in mind the knowledge available until about 10 years ago, was perfectly admissible, has been subjected to considerable changes thanks to: 1) the enormous advances achieved in the theoretical field, which placed our knowledge on the majority of Maritime Hydraulics subjects on a satisfactory level; 2) the invaluable help of small scale model tests, and3) our improved knowledge on natural phenomena which makes possible a comparatively satisfactory estimate of the characteristics of the waves to be anticipated at any point of the coast*We have merely to persevere along the route followed in the latter years in order to determine more accurate values fir the coefficients of the available formulas, representing the results obtained by means of graphs and tables, resorting for that purpose both to model tests and to a careful observation of the behaviour of completed structures throughout the world, above all those which underwent damages. On the other hand efforts should not be spared in concentrated attempts to discover new formulas as phenomena are, no doubt much too complex in the destruction of a breakwater to allow of a single satisfactory scheaetization. It should be borne in mind that, in spite of the laboratory tests recently carried out, our knowledges is limited to the area directly affected by the wave breaking and so a total knowledge of the stability of rubble-mound breakwaters lies still a long way ahead.


Author(s):  
Gregorio Iglesias Rodriguez ◽  
Alberte Castro Ponte ◽  
Rodrigo Carballo Sanchez ◽  
Miguel Ángel Losada Rodriguez

Breakwaters are coastal structures constructed to shelter a harbour basin from waves. There are two main types: rubble-mound breakwaters, consisting of various layers of stones or concrete pieces of different sizes (weights), making up a porous mound; and vertical breakwaters, impermeable and monolythic, habitually composed of concrete caissons. This article deals with rubble-mound breakwaters. A typical rubble-mound breakwater consists of an armour layer, a filter layer and a core. For the breakwater to be stable, the armour layer units (stones or concrete pieces) must not be removed by wave action. Stability is basically achieved by weight. Certain types of concrete pieces are capable of achieving a high degree of interlocking, which contributes to stability by impeding the removal of a single unit. The forces that an armour unit must withstand under wave action depend on the hydrodynamics on the breakwater slope, which are extremely complex due to wave breaking and the porous nature of the structure. A detailed description of the flow has not been achieved until now, and it is unclear whether it will be in the future in view of the turbulent phenomena involved. Therefore the instantaneous force exerted on an armour unit is not, at least for the time being, amenable to determination by means of a numerical model of the flow. For this reason, empirical formulations are used in rubble-mound design, calibrated on the basis of laboratory tests of model structures. However, these formulations cannot take into account all the aspects affecting the stability, mainly because the inherent complexity of the problem does not lend itself to a simple treatment. Consequently the empirical formulations are used as a predesign tool, and physical model tests in a wave flume of the particular design in question under the pertinent sea climate conditions are de rigueur, except for minor structures. The physical model tests naturally integrate all the complexity of the problem. Their drawback lies in that they are expensive and time consuming. In this article, Artificial Neural Networks are trained and tested with the results of stability tests carried out on a model breakwater. They are shown to reproduce very closely the behaviour of the physical model in the wave flume. Thus an ANN model, if trained and tested with sufficient data, may be used in lieu of the physical model tests. A virtual laboratory of this kind will save time and money with respect to the conventional procedure.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 338
Author(s):  
Daniele Celli ◽  
Yuzhu Li ◽  
Muk Chen Ong ◽  
Marcello Di Risio

The effects of submerged berms in attenuating the momentary liquefaction beneath rubble mound breakwaters under regular waves were investigated in a recent study. The present work aims to investigate the momentary liquefaction probabilities around and beneath breakwaters with submerged berms under random waves. The interaction between waves and breakwaters with submerged berms has been simulated through a phase-resolving numerical model. The soil response to the seabed pressure induced by random waves has been investigated using a poro-elastic soil solver. For three different breakwater configurations, the liquefaction depths under random wave conditions have been compared with those cases under representative regular waves. In the present study, the offshore spectral wave height ( H m 0 ) and the peak period ( T p ) of irregular waves are used as representative regular wave parameters. Results reveal the importance of considering random waves for a safe estimation of the momentary liquefaction probability. Indication about the minimum number of random waves, which is required to properly catch the liquefaction occurrences, has been also addressed.


Author(s):  
Yalcin Yuksel ◽  
Marcel van Gent ◽  
Esin Cevik ◽  
H. Alper Kaya ◽  
Irem Gumuscu ◽  
...  

The stability number for rubble mound breakwaters is a function of several parameters and depends on unit shape, placing method, slope angle, relative density, etc. In this study two different densities for cubes in breakwater armour layers were tested to determine the influence of the density on the stability. The experimental results show that the stability of high density blocks were found to be more stable and the damage initiation for high density blocks started at higher stability numbers compared to normal density cubes.


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