Ocean Structures and Materials

Prof. Dr. Srinivasan Chandrasekaran

Department of Ocean Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Madras

Module - 1
Lecture - 10
Types of coastal structures II

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the tenth lecture on module 1 on ocean structures and
materials organized under the braces of NPTEL IIT Madras.

(Refer Slide Time: 00:29)

Let us quickly look at the presentation outline of the tenth lecture. In this lecture we will
discuss about further different types of coastal structures like break waters, beach drains,
jetties, training walls and storm surge barriers.
(Refer Slide Time: 00:46)

In the last lecture we discussed about different types of coastal structures namely sea
dikes, sea walls, revetments, bulk heads and groins. Let us quickly review, what are the
essential functions of coastal structures?

(Refer Slide Time: 01:01)

We all know that to protect the shore from wave attack coastal structures are generally
constructed to prevent erosion, and other similar damages caused to the shore from the
wave action, to retain sand for long shore transport, to reduce inlet filling, to hold down
or protect the mooring vessels.
(Refer Slide Time: 01:28)

Coastal structures are also useful in coastal defense schemes. They are essentially
serving good purpose of preventing flooding of the hinterland, to provide sheltering of
harbor basins, to stabilize navigation channels at the inlets, to protect water intake
systems and outfalls.

In this present lecture, we will discuss few more types of coastal structures. List comes in
the first in today’s lecture we will discuss about breakwaters.

(Refer Slide Time: 02:03)

Now, the question comes what are breakwaters? Breakwaters are types of coastal
structures that are built to reduce wave action in the lee area of the structure. Wave
action is reduced through a combination of reflection and dissipation of incoming wave
energy. Breakwaters are also constructed to protect the coastline against tsunami waves.
Breakwaters create calm waters which are useful for the harbor areas, because calm
waters help safe mooring and loading operations and comfortable handling of cargos and
ships.

(Refer Slide Time: 02:44)

Main objective of break water is to provide shelter for harbor basins, harbor entrances
and water intakes against the action of waves and current. Essential function of break
water is to dissipate the wave energy and reflect it back into the sea. The maneuvering
conditions at harbor entrance are greatly improved by providing breakwaters. Currents
are directed appropriately, areas with differing levels of water disturbances are initiated
which helps harbor functioning effectively.
(Refer Slide Time: 03:25)

Breakwaters protect harbor and channel entrance. This can be of two types, one is what
we call detached from the shore, and other is shore connected breakwaters. The cost of
breakwaters increases with wave climate severity and of course, the water depth at which
the breakwaters are proposed. The layout of breakwaters depends on many factors like
direction of the storm waves, net direction of current and littoral drift and
maneuverability of the vessels that are required at the harbor at which the breakwaters
are designed. Let us quickly see, what do we understand by detached breakwaters?

(Refer Slide Time: 04:10)

Detached breakwaters are coastal structures that are built parallel to the coastline, located
inside or very close to the surf zone. They are built with rubble-mound structures. They
are similar to that of groins which we saw in the last lecture presentation. They have
eventually a low crest which allows overtopping during the storm. The submerged
breakwaters are also preferred as they do not spoil the view of the coastline, but they
cause very serious non visible hazard to the swimmers and the boats.

(Refer Slide Time: 04:50)

If we look at the effects of detached breakwaters on the coastline protection, there are
some noticeable hydrodynamic impacts which are caused by the breakwaters on the
coastline protection. Breakwaters shelter the adjacent areas partly; it is very simple to
understand that longer the break water better is the shelter. Submerged and floating
breakwaters provide of course, lesser shelter. Wave-overtopping in case of submerged
breakwaters inducts additional supply of water to the areas behind breakwaters. Wave
setup in sheltered area results in generation of undesirable local currents. They
subsequently develop what we called eddies. Long shore currents are partly blocked
resulting in their diversions.
(Refer Slide Time: 05:41)

The diversion of long shore currents cause local erosion effects, the in the areas which
are very close to the head area of the breakwaters. The trapping of sand which is an
eventual part of the areas where break water is constructed, it will result in a lee side
erosion which is an undesirable feature on the coastal segments. Breakwaters actually
trap sand which will cause serious coastal impact, swimmers will be tempted to be use
the sheltered areas, but circulation current present in this area because of the intervention
of construction of breakwaters can be dangerous for the swimmers as well. So,
breakwaters do protect coastal region from wave impact, but there are some negative
aspects of providing breakwaters along the coastline.
(Refer Slide Time: 06:35)

Here is a picture in which you see a detachable break water at Happisburg, Norfolk, UK
you can see the breakwaters are not continuous, they are not attached to the shore. So,
they are separate units as such which are constructed in parts which will have desirable
benefits only on these segments where these breakwaters are constructed.
(Refer Slide Time: 07:01)

The other photograph you see here is again detachable breakwaters constructed only on
certain segments, which we see which is not neither continuous nor they are connected to
the shore.

(Refer Slide Time: 07:13)

The segmented detached breakwaters what you see is again in small pieces which are
constructed parallel to the coast, but not in a continuous mode, but on intermittent
modes. So, detached breakwaters have their merits as well as few disadvantages as
discussed in the previous slides.
Next type of break water what we see in the literature is reef breakwaters.

(Refer Slide Time: 07:41)

This is a cross section which shows a reef break water which is essentially rubble
mounded. Rubble means stone lining are constructed with large size of stones. They are
essentially built parallel to the coast; they can be sometimes longer or shorter in length
when they are submerged structures. The main objective of reef break water is also to
reduce the wave action by forcing wave breaking over the reef part of the break water.
They are essentially rubble mounded and narrow crested, that is the geometric form of
reef break water. They regulate wave action by two phenomenon’s called refraction and
diffractions. If submerged again they can cause serious hazard to the swimmers because
they will not become noticeable therefore, there can be hazard cause to the swimmers in
case of submerged reef breakwaters.
(Refer Slide Time: 08:44)

The main objective of reef break water is to prevent the beach erosion as we see in the
last slide. The principal function is to reduce the wave heights at the shore action.

(Refer Slide Time: 09:05)

The next type of coastal structure what we are going to discuss very briefly today is
submerged sill. What do you understand by a submerged sill? It is again a special type of
reef break water which is constructed near shore. Submerged sills are essentially special
type of reef breakwaters which are constructed close to the shore. Principally they are
used to prevent the beach erosion and also to retard the offshore movement of the
sediments. This introduces basically a structural barrier at the point of the beach profile
that interrupts onshore sand movement. That is how these kind of breakwaters basically
prevent beach erosion and to retard the offshore movement of sediments.

(Refer Slide Time: 09:48)

Submerged sills introduce discontinuity in the beach profile. They are also built as rock
armored, rubble mounded structures. Essentially they are all massive gravity type
structural form, which are rock armored and rubble lined or rubble mounded structures.
Of course, in recent times people have started using few pre-fabricated units which are
commercially available in the market essentially which has made out of reinforced
concrete structures. They are used as submerged sills. The submerged sills also cause a
non-visible hazard to the swimmers and boats and can be very dangerous in the case of
shore closer to the coastal lines.

The second type, the next type of breakwaters are the coastal structures what we see is
beach drains.
(Refer Slide Time: 10:51)

As a term, specifically say, drain is a conventional form of structure which is essentially

used to prevent beach erosion. Let us see quickly how a beach drain can prevent beach
erosion? It helps in accumulating the beach material on a drained portion on the beach.
Basically the locations where beach drains are constructed it accumulates the beach
material at the drained portion of the beach. They are constructed in elevation just
beneath the lowest seasonal elevation of the beach profile in the swash zone.

Backwash speed and the ground water outflow from the beach zone can be reduced by
pumping the water from the beach drains because beach drains will not only accumulate
the sediments on the beach material, but also water will accumulate along with them. By
pumping this water out from these drains the backwash speed and the ground water
outflow from the beach zone can be tremendously controlled. This enables the beach
material to settle on the foreshore slope calmly.
(Refer Slide Time: 11:57)

Beach drains are constructed similar to that of normal drains which are using granular
filters. Of course, the size of the granular filter and the layout and the grading of the
granular material depend on what type of protection and what type of sea state we are
handling for the beach drains. The drain pipes which are coming, arising out from the
beach drains will be connected to the shore normal pipelines leading to a sump in an
upper part of the beach.

(Refer Slide Time: 12:30)

The next type of coastal structure is what we again see is break water, but a floating type
what we call FBW which is floating break water. These kinds of breakwaters are
constructed at mild wave climate sites where short period waves exist. They are effective
for very small craft harbors or marinas. The special conditions for which or the sites
specific conditions at which floating breakwaters are recommended may be listed as
follows. Wherever you have got poor foundations and bottom supported breakwaters are
not possible to be constructed, because of poor soil condition then one can opt for
floating breakwaters.

When you wish to construct break water at a site whose water depth is exceeding 6
meters in that case bottom supported breakwaters will become very expensive. In such
situation floating breakwaters can be an additional option. For sites where frequently ice
formation occurs, if you have got a bottom founded or bottom supported break water, it
is very difficult to remove the accumulated ice. In such situation if you have a floating
break water then these floating breakwaters can be towed to aside and the ice
accumulated in the section can be removed easily.

Wherever you want to improve the visual impact on the coastal line because of
construction of breakwaters you have got two options. One option can be to construct a
submerged break water because it will have less impact on the visual dimensions of the
coast line, but submerged breakwaters have their own demerits because they cause
hazardous situation for the swimmers and the boats. Alternatively, one can think of
floating breakwaters. So, they can improve visual impact created by the breakwaters on
the coastal sites. The layout of floating breakwaters are very simple and the construction
is much faster and therefore, they are preferred of course, they are effective only for
small craft harbors or marinas.
(Refer Slide Time: 14:50)

Here is a picture in which you see a floating break water constructed Fezzano in Italy.
You can see the structure is as long and quite wide as that of break water. The only
advantage is this can be planned and constructed much faster than that of a bottom
founded or bottom supported breakwaters.

(Refer Slide Time: 15:15)

There are different types of floating breakwaters which we will see now. The box type,
the pontoon type, the mat type and the tethered float type, these are four types of floating
breakwaters which are normally seen and constructed in different sites all over the world.
(Refer Slide Time: 15:35)

Let us quickly see what box type floating break wateris. This is the most frequently used
type of the floating break water. It generally consists of RCC modules. RCC expands for
reinforced cement concrete modules. The next type of floating break water which is
commonly seen is the pontoon type. The table here shows different types of geometry of
a pontoon type where I say twin pontoon can have a deck connected together which is a
floatation ballast, which is essentially used for a catamaran shape. You can also have
what we call open compartment type pontoon type floating breakwaters.

You can also have a frame type break water where two cylinders are connected by a
metal frame and a wooden sheet in between them which can be also assembled to
become a floating break water. You can also have twin lock type breakwaters where
there are two pairs of locks which are connected as a deck and this can be used as break
water. The advantage of this break water is the deck is an open wooden frame which can
be used for some inspection purposes as well.

Now, floating type breakwaters has specific advantage when you are using in the
pontoon type. They are effective since the overall width of pontoon type break water is
much lesser than the wave length. Practically, it is half of the wave length. Because of
this the attenuation of wave height is significant, it means the wave height reaching the
fore site of the break water is significantly reduced, it is attenuated because of the
pontoon type breakwaters because the overall width of this break water type is much
lesser than that of the wave length.

(Refer Slide Time: 17:34)

The next type of floating type break water is a mat type breakwater. They are essentially
used as low cost modules. They are much cheaper compared to floating type breakwaters
in case of pontoon type or in the box type. The one great advantage what this mat type
breakwaters possess is they can be transported easily from one location to another, these
type of breakwaters can be constructed with an un-skilled labor and use of equipments to
construct this break water is highly minimal. They reflect less and dissipate more wave
energy that is another merit what you obtain from mat type floating breakwaters.

The last type of floating type break water what you see in the literature is tethered
breakwaters. As the name spells very clearly, ladies and gentlemen, these breakwaters
are anchored to the sea floor using tethers. So, essentially they contain sphere type floats,
may be one or in series which are anchored to the sea bed using tethers. That is why they
are called tethered breakwaters. Series of them are generally installed not a single piece.
This kind of breakwater do not have significant advantage in controlling the wave action
on the coastal site and they are very less used in practice.
(Refer Slide Time: 18:59)

The other type of coastal structure what we will discuss today’s lecture will be jetties.
Now, what are jetties? Where are they used? Jetties are coastal structures which are used
for stabilizing the navigation channels at the tidal inlets. Ladies and gentlemen
understand this very clearly that jetties are specific type of offshore structures or coastal
structures which are built for stabilizing the navigation channels exclusively at specific
location especially at the tidal inlets of the channels. They are normally shore connected
structures, whereas breakwaters can be isolated as such. So, they are shore connected
structures which are generally built perpendicular to the shore and extend into the sea.

Now, I want you to name another coastal structure which is generally built perpendicular
direction of the coastal line. Yes, you are right groins are another type of coastal
structures which are protected and constructed perpendicular to the shore line and extend
it into the sea. The main function of jetties is to reduce channel sloshing and of course,
they decrease dredging requirements because dredging is one of the very common and
expensive maintenance processes which happen to maintain the navigation channels for
housing the vessels. So, wherever jetties are constructed they reduce the channel sloshing
and thereby they decrease the dredging requirements significantly on the channels.

Jetties of course, help in arresting the cross-currents and this will certainly improve what
we call the navigation facilities of the channel part at the tidal inlets. They also prevent
long shore drift and slow down beach erosion. So, in general if we look at the
fundamental principle and the desired advantage of any kind of coastal structure they are
all constructed in general to protect the coast line from the wave action. One of the
serious wave action caused by the waves on the approaching shore is beach erosion. So,
most of the coastal structures are constructed with the principle objective in mind to
prevent the long shore drift and to slow down or to eradicate completely the beach
erosion.

(Refer Slide Time: 21:30)

The photograph what you see here is a jetty at Carlsbad constructed in California. The
other photograph what we see down the line is a jetty at Dolos in Humboldt bay. Both of
these have a similarity that they are connected to the shore and the length and the
projected into this, they are normal to the shore line, they are perpendicular into the sea
and they are connected to the shore, they stay connected and essentially they exchange
into the sea for relatively a long distance.
(Refer Slide Time: 22:09)

The last type of coastal structure what we see in this lecture will be training walls. Let us
quickly see, what do we understand by training walls? Training walls are constructed
actually to direct the flow; they improve the mooring conditions in an estuary. Also, it
helps in directing the littoral drift away from an area of a potential deposition. Most
commonly, they are constructed using sheet piles.

(Refer Slide Time: 22:40)

The training wall at Wallis Lake is what we see here. These are the training walls which
are constructed, which directs the flow in a calm smooth manner. There is a training wall
constructed at Tweed river entrance in Queensland, Australia which is also used for
guiding the flow in a smooth manner.

(Refer Slide Time: 23:06)

Storm surge barriers are also another type of coastal structures which are constructed to
protect the estuaries against storm surge flooding and wave attack. They prevent salt
water intrusion during the high water episodes, that is one of the great advantages of
storm surge barriers constructed. They contain series of moveable gates which are kept
open, they normally stay in open position, but they will be closed when the storm surge
exceeds the permissible level which is undesirable; constructed, generally with concrete,
rests on pile foundations.
(Refer Slide Time: 23:48)

There are some few references which are very important for you to be given in addition
to what we have discussed in the presentation in the website of NPTEL IIT Madras.
There are few references what I want to list it here, Mangor Karsten 2004 Shoreline
Management Guidelines, DHI Water and Environment 294 p p, Ahrens and Cox Design
and performance of reef breakwaters which is available in Journal of Coastal research
volume 7, Sannasiraj, Sundar and Sundaravadivelu, 1998 Mooring forces and motion
responses of pontoon type floating breakwaters available in Ocean Engineering volume
25, 27, 48; Yamamoto discussed in 1981 the Moored floating break water response to
regular and irregular waves in Applied Ocean Research volume 3, 27 36.

So, ladies and gentlemen, we have given a very brief overview of different kinds of
coastal structures in these past two lectures. In the next lecture we will discuss about the
structural form, the geometric form, plan, location, guidelines and essential functions of
different kinds of coastal structures before you move further to discuss about the design
aspects of offshore and coastal structures. Thank you.