LECTURE - 06

BREAKWATERS
• BREAKWATER:
– a structure protecting a shore area, harbour, anchorage or
basin from wave disturbance.
– to protect harbour against wave action
– Either rubble mound or concrete caisson
– Connected to the shoreline and extending out into the
water

• Breakwater Construction is mostly parallel or

perpendicular to the coast to maintain tranquility
condition in the port.
• Three major categories according to the functional
requirements:
- Rubble Mound Breakwaters (Mound Type)
- Vertical Breakwaters (Wall Type)
- Vertical wall on rubble base (Composite type)

• Selection of the type of breakwater – primarily

controlled by some factors: availability of rock, depth
of water, geotechnical nature of sea bed, function of
breakwater etc.
 Advantages of breakwaters

1. High reliability and less repair work

2. Less influence on the environment
3. Multi purpose structures.
 RUBBLE MOUND BREAKWATER
• A breakwater constructed by a heterogeneous assemblage of natural
rubble or undressed stone.

• When water depths are large RBW may be uneconomical in view of

huge volume of rocks required.

• Built upto water depth of 50m.

• Not suitable when space is a problem. If the harbor side may have to
be used for berthing of ships, the RBW with its sloping faces is not
suitable for berthing.

• These type of breakwaters dissipate the incident wave energy by

forcing them to break on a slope and thus do not produce appreciable
reflection.
 STRUCTURAL COMPONENT
CREST
ARMOUR LAYER

UNDER LAYER

CORE

TOE

BEDDING LAYER

1) Constructed by natural rubble or undressed stones

2) Comparatively safe

3) Has a broad base which helps in distributing the load on a wider area

4) Consists of central portion called core, protective cover called armour

layer and in between is the under layer.
 ADVANTAGES OF RMBW

1. Use of natural material

2. Reduces material cost

3. Use of small construction equipment

4. Less environmental impact

5. Most widely used in Indian ports

6. Easy to construct

7. Failure is mainly due to poor interlocking capacity between

individual blocks

8. Unavailability of large size natural rocks leads to artificial armour

blocks which is costlier.
TYPICAL RUBBLE MOUND BREAKWATER
EXAMPLES OF ARMOUR UNITS (Clifford, 1991)
 VERTICAL BREAKWATER
• A breakwater formed by the construction in a regular and
systematic manner of a vertical wall of masonry concrete blocks or
mass concrete, with vertical and seaward face.

• Reflect the incident waves without dissipating much wave energy

• Normally it is constructed in locations where the depth of the sea is

greater than twice the design wave height

Preferred to RBW for following reasons:

1) saving in material due to smaller body width.

2) Rapidity in construction.

3) Non availability of large quantities of stones.

4) Occupies less space

 DEFINITION SKETCH
B
Crest E levation

S eaward S ide Concrete Crown Harbou r Side

U pright S ection
(Caission)

d
Foot Protection
Concrete Blocks do
A sp halt Mat
A rm ou r Blocks
(Blocks)

RUB BL E MO UN D FO UN DA TION
 Disadvantages of vertical wall break water
1) Good foundation that does not allow erosion or uneven settlement.

2) Sea bottom has to be leveled and prepared for placements of large

blocks or caissons.

3) Foundations made of fine sand may cause erosion and settlement.

4) Erosion may cause tilting or displacement of large monoliths.

5) Difficult and expensive to repair.

6) Building of caissons and launching or towing them into position require

special land and water areas beside involvement of heavy construction
equipments.

7) Require form work, quality concrete, skilled labour, batching plants and
floating crafts.
 COMPOSITE BREAKWATER

• A breakwater constructed by combination of a

rubble mound base and vertical wall or other form of
superstructure

• Adopted – where the depth of water is great.

 FLOATING BREAKWATER
• A removable breakwater constructed by caissons or
pontoons with valves for trimming whilst afloat and
for sinking when is position and pump connections for
refloating, moored to the sea bed.

• inexpensive, easily moved from site to site, often very

quickly fabricated

• ineffective to long waves, must be anchored

TYPICAL FLOATING BREAKWATERS
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SOME PICTURES
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