Cubipod^® Armor Design in Depth-Limited Regular Wave-Breaking Conditions

Abstract

Armor stability formulas for mound breakwaters are commonly based on 2D small-scale physical tests conducted in non-overtopping and non-breaking conditions. However, most of the breakwaters built around the world are located in breaking or partially-breaking wave conditions, where they must withstand design storms having some percentage of large waves breaking before they reach the structure. In these cases, the design formulas for non-breaking wave conditions are not fully valid. This paper describes the specific 2D physical model tests carried out to analyze the trunk hydraulic stability of single- and double-layer Cubipod® armors in depth-limited regular wave breaking and non-overtopping conditions with horizontal foreshore (m = 0) and armor slope (α) with cotα = 1.5. An experimental methodology was established to ensure that 100 waves attacked the armor layer with the most damaging combination of wave height (H) and wave period (T) for the given water depth (hs). Finally, for a given water depth, empirical formulas were obtained to estimate the Cubipod® size which made the armor stable regardless of the deep-water wave storm.

Keywords

• mound breakwater
• armor stability
• Cubipod^®
• breaking waves
• non-overtopping
• horizontal foreshore
• regular waves