Experimental Study on Stability of Wave-dissipating Concrete Blocks of Detached Breakwaters against Tsunami

Abstract

In Japan, detached breakwaters made with wave dissipating concrete blocks such as Tetrapods have been widely applied. On March, 11th, 2011 the huge, devastating tsunami generated by The 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake attacked and damaged the east coast area of Japan. In our study, hydraulic model tests have been systematically and carefully carried out using solitary tsunami waves to evaluate the stability of concrete blocks following the our previous study on the effect of detached breakwaters from the viewpoint of reducing run-up and wave pressure onto seawalls behind the detached breakwaters.