Abstract
Armor damage due to wave attack is the principal failure mode to be considered when designing conventional mound breakwaters. Armor layers of mound breakwaters are typically designed using formulas in the literature for non-overtopped mound breakwaters in non-breaking wave conditions, although overtopped mound breakwaters in the depth-induced breaking wave zone are common design conditions. In this study, 2D physical tests with an armor slope H/V = 3/2 are analyzed in order to better describe the hydraulic stability of overtopped mound breakwaters with double-layer rock, double-layer randomly-place cube and single-layer Cubipod® armors in depth-limited breaking wave conditions. Hydraulic stability formulas are derived for each armor section (front slope, crest and rear slope) and each armor layer. The front slope of overtopped double-layer rock structures is more stable than the front slope of non-overtopped mound breakwaters in breaking wave conditions. When wave attack increases, armor damage appears first on the front slope, later on the crest and, finally, on the rear side. However, once the damage begins on the crest and rear side, the progression is much faster than on the front slope, because more wave energy is dissipated through the armored crest and rear side.
Highlights
The armor damage on mound breakwaters due to wave attack is the first problem to assess in the design phase
Most mound breakwaters are built in the depth-limited wave breaking zone, most of the aforementioned formulas were developed using physical tests conducted in non-breaking wave conditions with null or insignificant overtopping
In overtopped mound breakwaters, part of the wave energy passes through the structure [5]; the wave energy is dissipated in the armored front slope, and in the armored crest and rear slope
Summary
The armor damage on mound breakwaters due to wave attack is the first problem to assess in the design phase. Most mound breakwaters are built in the depth-limited wave breaking zone, most of the aforementioned formulas were developed using physical tests conducted in non-breaking wave conditions with null or insignificant overtopping (crest freeboard higher than two times the design significant wave height). Cubipod® armors in depth-limited breaking wave conditions This author proposed formulas to describe the hydraulic stability of these structures using the 5-power relationship between the design wave height and the armor damage recommended by [2,8] for nonovertopped and non-breaking wave conditions. This study reanalyzes the data by [7] to examine the hydraulic stability of overtopped mound breakwaters with armor slope H/V = 3/2 and with double-layer rock, double-layer randomly-place cube and single-layer Cubipod® armors in depth-limited breaking conditions.
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