Breakwater (structure)

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Breakwaters create safer harbours, but can also trap sediment moving along the c
oast. Alamitos Bay, CA entrance channel.
Breakwaters are structures constructed on coasts as part of coastal defense or t
o protect an anchorage from the effects of both weather and longshore drift.
Contents
1 Purposes of breakwaters
2 Unintended consequences
3 Construction
4 Types of breakwater structures
5 Advanced numerical study
6 Notable locations
7 See also
8 References
9 External links
Purposes of breakwaters
Breakwaters, also called bulkheads, reduce the intensity of wave action in insho
re waters and thereby reduce coastal erosion or provide safe harbourage. Breakwa
ters may also be small structures designed to protect a gently sloping beach and
placed one to three hundred feet offshore in relatively shallow water.
An anchorage is only safe if ships anchored there are protected from the force o
f high winds and powerful waves by some large underwater barrier which they can
shelter behind. Natural harbours are formed by such barriers as headlands or ree
fs. Artificial harbors can be created with the help of breakwaters. Mobile harbo
urs, such as the D-Day Mulberry harbours, were floated into position and acted a
s breakwaters. Some natural harbours, such as those in Plymouth Sound, Portland
Harbour and Cherbourg, have been enhanced or extended by breakwaters made of roc
k.
Unintended consequences
The dissipation of energy and relative calm water created in the lee of the brea
kwaters often encourage accretion of sediment (as per the design of the breakwat
er scheme). However this can lead to excessive salient build up, leading to tomb
olo formation reducing longshore drift shoreward of the breakwaters (Sea Palling
, UK). This trapping of sediment can cause adverse effects down drift of the bre
akwaters leading to beach sediment starvation and increased erosion. This may th
en lead to further engineering protection being needed down drift of the breakwa
ter development.
Breakwaters are subject to damage, and overtopping in severe storms events.
Three of the four breakwaters forming Portland Harbour
The eight offshore breakwaters at Elmer, UK
Construction
Breakwaters can be constructed with one end linked to the shore, in which case t
hey are usually classified as sea walls; otherwise they are positioned offshore
from as little as 100 m up to 300-600 m from the original shoreline. There are t
wo main types of offshore breakwater, single and multiple; single as the name su
ggests means the breakwater consists of one unbroken barrier, which multiple bre
akwaters (in numbers anywhere from 2-20) are positioned with gaps in between (50
-300 m). Length of gap is largely governed by the interacting wavelengths. Break
waters may be either fixed or floating, and impermeable or permeable to allow se
diment transfer shoreward of the structures, the choice depending tidal range an
d water depth. They usually consist of large pieces of rock (granite) weighing u
p to 16 tonnes each, or rubble-mound. Their design is influenced by the angle of
wave approach and other environmental parameters. Breakwater construction can b
e either parallel or perpendicular to the coast, depending on the shoreline requ
irements.
Types of breakwater structures
A breakwater structure is designed to absorb the energy of the waves that hit it
, either by using mass (e.g., with caissons), or by using a revetment slope (e.g
., with rock or concrete armour units).
In coastal engineering, a revetment is a land backed structure whilst a breakwat
er is a sea backed structure (i.e., water on both sides).
Caisson breakwaters typically have vertical sides and are usually erected where
it is desirable to berth one or more vessels on the inner face of the breakwater
. They use the mass of the caisson and the fill within it to resist the overturn
ing forces applied by waves hitting them. They are relatively expensive to const
ruct in shallow water, but in deeper sites they can offer a significant saving o
ver revetment breakwaters.
Rubble mound breakwaters use structural voids to dissipate the wave energy. Rock
or concrete armour units on the outside of the structure absorb most of the ene
rgy, while gravels or sands prevent the wave energy's continuing through the bre
akwater core. The slopes of the revetment are typically between 1:1 and 1:2, dep
ending upon the materials used. In shallow water, revetment breakwaters are usua
lly relatively inexpensive. As water depth increases, the material requirements,
and hence costs, increase significantly.[citation needed]
Advanced numerical study
3D Numerical Simulation - MEDUS 2009
The Maritime Engineering Division of the University of Salerno (MEDUS) developed
a new procedure for studying in greater detail the interactions between maritim
e breakwaters (submerged or emerged) and the waves that hit them by making integ
rated use of CAD and CFD software.
In the numerical simulations, the filtration motion of the fluid within the inte
rstices, which normally exist in a breakwater, is estimated by integrating the R
ANS equations, coupled with a RNG turbulence model inside the voids, instead of
using classical equations for porous media.
The breakwaters were modelled, in analogy to full size construction or physical
laboratory tests, by overlapping three-dimensional elements and having the numer
ical grid thickened in order to have some computational nodes along the flow pat
hs among the breakwaters blocks.
Notable locations
UK - Sea Palling, Norfolk; Elmer, West Sussex
USA - Santa Monica, California; Winthrop Beach, Massachusetts; Colonial Beac
h, Virginia
Japan - Central Breakwater in Tokyo; Ishizaki (???????), Hokkaido Prefecture
; Kaike, Tottori Prefecture
See also
Accropode
Akmon
Artificial reef
Dolos
Gabion
Groyne
Hudson's equation
Jetty
KOLOS
Mole (architecture)
Pier
Port
Seawall
Tetrapod (structure)
Xbloc
References
Ciria-CUR (2007) - Rock Manual - The use of rock in hydraulic engineering.
N.W.H. Allsop (2002) - Breakwaters, coastal structures and coastlines.
Integrated Armor System - [1].
External links
USGS Oblique Aerial Photography Coastal Erosion from El-Nio Winter Storms Oct
ober, 1997 & April, 1998
Channel Coastal Observatory Breakwaters
Shapes of breakwater armour units and year of their introduction
SeaBull Marine, Inc. Shoreline Erosion Reversal Systems
WaveBrake - Wave attenuation specialists
IAS Breakwater in Facebook
[hide]
v
t
e
Coastal management
Management
Coastal management
Accretion
Coastal engineering
Integrated coastal zone management
Managed retreat
Submersion
Seawallventnor.jpg
Hard engineering
A-jack
Accropode
Akmon
Artificial reef
Breachway
Breakwater
Cliff stabilization
Dolos
Flood wall
Floodgate
Gabion
Groyne
Levee
Hard engineering
Honeycomb sea wall
Hudson's equation
KOLOS
Revetment
Riprap
Seawall
Tetrapod
Training wall
Xbloc
Soft engineering
Beach nourishment
Beach drainage
Sand dune stabilization
Soft engineering
Soft shore remediation
Related topics
Beach evolution
Coastal erosion
Land reclamation
Longshore transport
Modern recession of beaches
Categories:
Breakwaters
Coastal engineering
Coastal construction
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