Review of Literature on Design of Rubble Mound Breakwaters

Breakwaters are offshore structures constructed to protect the coastal and port structures from uncertain and extreme wave conditions. It creates tranquility in and around the harbor side for smooth transactions of ships. Depending upon the availability of rocks, depth of water, geotechnical nature of the sea bed, and its functional requirement, breakwaters are classified as rubble mound breakwaters, caisson type, and composite breakwaters. Rubble mound is a flexible, heterogeneous, trapezoidal structure consisting of quarried rocks in the core and artificial armor as a protection cover. Armor units at the outer layer absorb most of the energy and under-layers prevent transmission of the wave energy. The main advantage of the rubble mound is its failure is not immediate and can be repaired by adding the stones in the flushed-out part. More than 50% of breakwaters constructed around the world are of rubble mounds. Looking at its importance for coastal structures, this paper gives an overview of the basic aspects of rubble mound breakwaters, design considerations, and its failure conditions. The design of rubble mound breakwaters include hydraulic stability of it against wave actions, structural components design, and geotechnical considerations. The common modes of rubble mound failure are hydraulic damage, erosion of subsoil, slope failures, toe erosion, overtopping, liquefaction of subsoil, crest erosion, and leeside damage. The failure of rubble mound breakwater at Ergil fishery port, Turkey due to Kocaeli earthquake of 1999 has been explained to support this part.