scholarly journals ON THE STABILITY OF RUBBLE-MOUND BREAKWATERS Jose Joaquim

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.

1988 ◽  
Vol 1 (21) ◽  
pp. 166 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Burger ◽  
H. Oumeraci ◽  
H.W. Partenscky

Due to the increase of ship sizes in recent decades a number of harbours and terminals have been built in deeper waters. Accordingly, the structures which have to provide protection against wave action become higher, too. In most cases, these protective structures are of the rubble mound type. Under such conditions the flow induced by waves within the breakwater and the related geotechnical behaviour of the rubble mound fill become more significant fcr the overall stability and should be considered in the design. In addition, it is known that the scales usually adopted in hydraulic models (1:30 to 1:60) for investigating the stability of large rubble mound breakwaters generally lead to scale effects with respect to the flow field inside the breakwater. This means that small-scale model tests are not appropriate for investigating the internal flow patterns or for evaluating the pore pressure field induced by the incident waves in,the core material. because of the uncontrolled conditions in the prototype, and since the actual permeability of the prototype rubble mound fill cannot be predicted (segregation, settlement, variation in grading, etc.), the use of large-scale physical models seems to be the most promising method for basic investigations of this kind. Moreover, the results of such largescale model tests may be used to validate the usual smaller scale models and to calibrate numerical models. Therefore, it is one of the objectives of our research programme on rubble mound breakwaters, which started in 1987, to concentrate on the evaluation of the wave-induced flow and pore pressure distribution within the breakwater.


2009 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 154-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leopoldo Franco ◽  
Jimmy Geeraerts ◽  
Riccardo Briganti ◽  
Marc Willems ◽  
Giorgio Bellotti ◽  
...  

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.


2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 541-559 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rute Lemos ◽  
◽  
Maria A. R. Loja ◽  
João Rodrigues ◽  
José A. Rodrigues

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,


2014 ◽  
Vol 15 (12) ◽  
pp. 117-128
Author(s):  
Minchul Jung ◽  
Jungsoon Hwang ◽  
Jongseob Kim ◽  
Seungwook Kim ◽  
Seungcheol Baek

2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 819-826 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. J. Seo ◽  
H. Choi ◽  
K. H. Lee ◽  
G. J. Bae ◽  
I. M. Lee

Author(s):  
Theide Wöffler ◽  
Moritz Kreyenschulte ◽  
Jan Oetjen ◽  
Klemens Uliczka ◽  
Holger Schüttrumpf

During the last years, an increased amount of damage has been observed on estuarine and riverine waterway structures such as groins or training walls in tidal waterways. The cause of these damages could be attributed to ship-induced long-periodic waves. Because of higher traffic volumes and increased ship dimensions these loads have risen. In contrast to short-periodic secondary waves, the long-periodic wave system is not taken into account in existing design approaches so far. In the framework of the project “Ship-induced long-periodic loads for the design of cover layers on maritime waterway structures” small-scale 2D physical model tests have been performed in order to quantify the specific overflow and overtopping rate taking into account different geometries, surface roughnesses and permeabilities of the structures as well as stationary overflow, short- and long-periodic waves. Furthermore, the stability of the structures under short- and long-periodic wave loads has been observed. These tests provide the basis for the design of cover layers on river structures in maritime waterways.


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.


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