Harbour Structure Analysis

Project
Design of Rubble Mound Seawall

Under the Guidance of : By :

Mrs. K. Muthuchelvi Thangam, Shailesh Shukla
Scientist B, IMU M.Tech – D&H
 OBJECTIVE :

The main objective of constructing a seawall is to

protect the structures or properties along the shore
from being hit by the waves coming from the sea.

Depending upon the type of sea conditions different

types of seawall are constructed.

It also acts as a barrier for soil erosion.

INTRODUCTION :
Seawall is a protective structure, made of stone or concrete;
extends from shore into the sea to prevent a beach or coastal
boundary from washing away.

It is designed to prevent coastal erosion and other damages due to

wave action and storm surge, such as flooding.

Seawalls are normally very massive structures because they are

designed to resist the full force of waves and storm surge.

A structure separating land and water areas.

PURPOSE OF SEA WALLS :

protect areas of human habitation

impede the exchange of sediment between land and sea.

Figure: Seawall at Bandra in Mumbai

Coastal erosion is wearing of land and removal of beach or dune
sediments by wave action, wave currents and tidal currents.

Erosion of the coast depends on many factors like

nature of the beach
beach material
the shape of the coast
tidal level changes
human interference

Coastal Structures :
Seawalls, revetments, anti-sea erosion bunds
System of groynes or jetties – shore connected
System of offshore breakwaters - away from the shore
Types of sea walls :
A seawall is typically a sloping concrete structure; it can be
smooth, stepped-faced or curved-faced.

A seawall can also be built as a rubble-mound structure, as a

block seawall, steel or wooden structure.

There are three types of sea walls-

Vertical sea walls
Curved sea walls
Mounted sea wall
1. Vertical sea walls:
The first implemented, most easily designed and constructed type of
seawall.

Vertical sea walls deflect wave energy away from the coast.

Loose rubble can absorb wave energy

2. Curved sea walls:
Concave structure introduces a dissipative element.

The curve can prevent waves from overtopping the wall and provides
extra protection for the toe of the wall.

Curved seawalls aim to re-direct most of the incident energy, resulting

in low reflected waves and much reduced turbulence.
3. Mounted sea walls :
Current designs use porous designs of rock, concrete armour.

Slope and loose material ensure maximum dissipation of wave

energy.

Lower cost option.

Advantages of sea walls:

Long term solution in comparison to soft beach nourishment.

Effectively minimizes loss of life in extreme events and damage to
property caused by erosion.
Can exist longer in high energy environments in comparison to
‘soft’ engineering methods.
Can be used for recreation and sightseeing.
Forms a hard and strong coastal defense.
Disadvantages of sea walls:
Very expensive to construct.
Can cause beaches to dissipate rendering them useless for beach goers.
Scars the very landscape that they are trying to save and provides an
‘eyesore.’
Reflected energy of waves leading to scour at base.
Can disrupt natural shoreline processes and destroy shoreline habitats
such as wetlands and intertidal beaches.
Altered sediment transport processes can disrupt sand movement that can
lead to increased erosion down drift from the structure.
DESIGN
CONSIDERATIONS :
The function of the seawall is to dissipate the wave energy
and allow formation of beach in front of it. As such, the
sloping rubble mound seawall is the most suitable type of seawall.
Figure : Wave Action on curved seawall
Rubble mound Seawall :
The rubble mound seawall is generally designed to consist of three
layers i.e. core, secondary layer and an armour layer.

A minimum of two layers of stones (units) in the armour and

secondary layer is always necessary.

While the thicknesses of these layers are determined by the size of

stones used, the levels including that of the core are
determined based on maximum water level, design wave height,
wave run-up, permissible overtopping and method of construction.
steps to design an adequate and efficient rubble mound
seawall :
Determine the water level range for the site.
Determine the wave heights .
Determine the beach profile after the storm condition / monsoon.
Select the suitable location and configuration of the seawall .
Select suitable armour to resist the design wave .
Select size of the armour unit .
Determine potential run-up to set the crest elevation.
Determine amount of overtopping expected for low structures.
Design under-drainage features if they are required.
Provide for local surface runoff and overtopping runoff and make
any required provisions for other drainage facilities such as
culverts and ditches.
Consider end condition to avoid failure due to flanking.
Design toe protection .
Design filter and under layers.
Provide for firm compaction of all fill and back-fill materials.
This requirement should be included on the plans and in
the specifications. Also, due allowance for compaction must be
made in the cost estimate .
Develop cost estimate for each alternative.
Provision for regular maintenance and repairs of the structure.
Position of the seawall :
Determination of the beach profile and the water levels are
important.

The highest and the lowest water levels at the site must be known. The
highest water level helps in deciding the exact crest level
while the lowest water level guides the location of the toe.

With steeper slopes, damage to armour stones is more as

compared to flat bed slope.

The seawall should be located in such a position that the

maximum wave attack is taken by the armour slope and the toe.

If located above the high water level contour, the waves will
break in front of the seawall causing scouring and subsequent failure.
Under design of Armour :
Under estimation of maximum water level, incorrect information
of beach slope considered, steeping of foreshore.
Presence of a large number of smaller stones than design size are
a few of them. large percentage of undersized armour.
Stones having excessively rounded corners attribute to repetitive
displacements and consequent attrition and abrasion.
The displacement of the armours has resulted in the exposure of
secondary layer, which is completely exposed to the fury of waves

Figure 3: Under Design of Armour layer Leads to Failure of Seawall

TOE PROTECTION :
Toe stability is essential because failure of the toe will generally lead to
failure throughout the entire structure. Toe is generally governed by
hydraulic criteria.
Factors that affect the severity of toe scour:
wave breaking (near the toe),wave run-up and backwash, wave
reflection and grain size.
Toe protection must consider geo-technical as well as hydraulic factors.
The toe apron should be at least twice the incident wave height for sheet-pile
walls and equal to the incident wave height for gravity walls.

Figure 4: Seawall with toe protection

provision of filters :
In seawall there is removal of fill material by overtopped water,
there is no proper filter between the sloping fill and the seawall.

Failure of toe leads to dislodging of armour, makes seawall ineffective.

Reformation of profile is to be done and it is necessary to provide a

proper filter before reforming the section.

This can be done by dumping additional stones or retrieving some of

the displaced stones.
Rounded Stones :
In order to achieve efficient interlocking, the rock should be
sound and the individual units should have sharp edges.
Blunt or round edges result in poor interlocking and hence
poor stability (lower stability factor KD)
Rounded stones result in lower porosity and are less efficient in
dissipation of wave energy.

Figure 7: Rounded Stones in

Armour Layer of a Seawall
 WEAK POCKETS :
Several weak spots are often present in rubble mound structures,
which may be attributable to reasons such as lack of supervision,
quarry yielding smaller stones or deliberate attempts to dispose of
undersized stones etc.
Concentration of stones much smaller than the required armour should
therefore be avoided at any cost
Concentration of stones much smaller than the required armour should
therefore be avoided at any cost
Design Wave Estimation, Wave Height and Stability
Considerations :

Wave heights and periods should be chosen to produce the

most critical combination of forces on a structure .

Wave characteristics may be based on –

Analysis of wave gauge records
Visual observations of wave action
Published wave hind casts
Wave forecasts or the maximum breaking wave at the site

Using refraction and diffraction techniques

Height of Protection :
When selecting the height of protection, one must consider-
the maximum water level
any anticipated structure settlement
freeboard
wave run-up and overtopping.

Elevation of the structure is perhaps the single most important

controlling design factor and is also critical to the
performance of the structure.
Wave Run-up :
Run-up is the vertical height above the still-water level (SWL) to
which the uprush from a wave will rise on a structure.

It is not the distance measured along the inclined surface.

Overtopping:
Overtopping is generally preferable to design shore protection
structures to be high enough to preclude overtopping.

In some cases, however, prohibitive costs or other considerations

may dictate lower structures than ideally needed.

In those cases it may be necessary to estimate the volume of

water per unit time that may overtop the structure.
Overtopping :

Figure 6: Overtopping of Waves Over Seawall

 DESIGN PROCEDURE :

The usual steps needed to develop an adequate seawall design

follow.
Determine the water level range for the site
Determine the wave heights
Significant wave height Hs = mean of 1/3 of the maximum waves
Depth of water = H
Design pile foundations using EM 1110-2-2906.

26
LENGTH AND LOCATION OF SEAWALL :

Location = India / Kerala / Alappuzha / Kamalapuram

Length of Seawall = 1550 m
Latitude and Longitude = 9 24’ 13.93” N 76 20’33.66” E
Reason for Site Selection :
2003 2013

The above site has been selected due to the erosion of land along
the coast as compared in the pictures above.
Design Calculation:
DETERMINING SIGNIFICANT WAVE HEIGHT
:
DETERMINING WAVE PERIOD :
DESIGN PROCEDURE :

Select a suitable armor unit type and size

Weight of armour unit,
Wa = 𝛒a H3 / KD∆3cotø
where 𝛒a = unit wt. of armour unit
H = significant wave height
KD = stability coefficient
∆ = relative mass density
∆ = ( a / 𝛒w ) – 1
𝛒w = density of sea water = 1.025 T/m3

31
DESIGN PROCEDURE :
Crest width of armour layer
B = n K∆(Wa / 𝛒a)1/3
where n = number of stones
K∆ = layer coefficient

Thickness of armour layer

t = n K∆ (Wa / 𝛒a)1/3
where n = number of stones

32
DESIGN PROCEDURE :

Under layer thickness is same as armour layer

So Weight of under layer = Wa /10 to Wa /15
Where Wa = Wt. of armour unit

Weight of core layer = Wa /100 to Wa /400

Width of toe berm = 2 x Hs

Depth of toe berm = 0.4 x d

Where Hs = design wave height
d = depth of water
33
Significant wave height = 1.524 + 1 = 2.524 m

Depth of water = 2.524 m

Time Period of Approaching waves = 7.468 sec

Weight of armour unit,

Wa = 𝛒a H3 / KD∆3cotø

= 2.65 x (2.524) 3 / 2 x {(2.65/1.025) -1} 3 x 1.5

= 3.56 T
Crest width of armour layer :

B = n K∆(Wa / 𝛒a)1/3
where n = number of stones = 3
K∆ = layer coefficient

B = n x 1 x (3.56/2.65) 1/3
= 3 x 1.1034 m
= 3.31 m

Thickness of armour layer :

t = n K∆ (Wa / 𝛒a)1/3
where n = number of stones = 2
= 2 x 1 x (3.56/2.65) 1/3
= 2 x 1.1034 m
= 2.2068 m
Weight of under layer = Wa /10 to Wa /15
Where Wa = Wt. of armour unit
= 3.56/10 to 3.56/15
= 0.356 T to 0.237T

Weight of core layer = Wa /100 to Wa /400

= 3.56/100 to 3.56/400
= 0.0356 T to 0.0089 T

Weight of toe berm = Wa /10 to Wa /15

Where Wa = Wt. of armour unit
= 3.56/10 to 3.56/15
= 0.356 T to 0.237T

Width of toe berm = 2 x Hs = 2x 1.524= 3.05 m

Depth of toe berm = 0.4 x d = 0.4 x 3.224 = 1.29 m

Structure height = Thickness of armour layer + Thickness of under layer
+Depth of toe berm + Thickness of bedding layer
= 2.2068 +2.2068 +1.2896 + 1
= 6.7m

Weight of Structure = Weight of armour unit + Weight of under layer +

Weight of core layer + Weight of toe berm
= 3.56 + 0.356 + 0.0356 + 0.356
= 4.31T

Length of Seawall = 1550m

Weight of Structure = 4.31 x A *1550

= 1472.27T
23 May 2015