Rubble Mound Breakwater Design Calculations

1. m = tan

Hs

Lo

2. Lm = Lo = gTm

3. Design H = minimum of Hmax or Hb (Hmax may be H1/3 or H1/10)

4. Run-up
a. Ru H S = a m for m < 1.5
c
b. Ru H S = b m for m > 1.5

c. RuR H S = ( Ru H S ) i
5. Overtopping
a. s m =

Hs
Lm

*
b. Rm =

R
Hs

sm
2

*
c. Q ( gH s Tm ) = a exp b Rm

Rm = ( b ) ln Q ( agH sTm )
s
R
= m Rm*
Hs
2
6. R = maximum of

[ ( Ru

H S ) i ] H s or

s m 2 Rm* H s

7. Design crest elevation = DHW + R

8. Armor weight:

W50 =

aH 3

K D ( SG 1) cot

W
9. Armor thickness: r = nK
a

1/ 3

1/ 3

10. Crest Width:

W
Bc = 3K
a

11. Base Width:

Bb = Bc + 2( DHW + R ) cot

12. Armor area (per unit length):

A = Bc + 2

( DHW + R ) 2 (1 + cot 2 )

P a

N a = Ank 1

100 W

13. Number of armor units:

14. Underlayer thickness:

W
r = nK
s

2/3

1/ 3

15. Total volume (per unit length)

a

th

a. t h = r sin
1
Vi
b. V = 2 h( a + b ) below

16. Scour Depth:

d s = ( d s H ) H = 0.5 H

17. Toe apron width: maximum of Bt = 2H or Bt = 0.4h

18. Toe stone weight
a. K =

2kht
sin 2 kBt
sinh 2kht

(
1 K ) ht
1 K ht
b. maximum of N s = 1.3 1 / 3 + 1.8 exp 1.5

K 1/ 3 H
K H

c. Wmin =

or

Ns = 1.8

sH 3
3
N s3 ( SG 1)

d. assuming quarry stone sorting is 0.75 W/W50 1.25 W50 = Wmin/0.75

19. Toe base: bt = 2Btcott
20. Toe volume (total, per unit length, 2 identical toe structures):
21. Toe-to-toe width of breakwater:
22. Bedding layer stone weight:
a. 2 = gk tanh kh L = 2 k

V = 2[ 12 ( h ht )( Bt + bt ) ]

Btt = Bb + 2[ ( h ht ) cot t + ( Bt ( h ht ) cot ) ]

 50 H 3
b. W50 =
3
2
1.34 10 5 ( SG50 1) (1 L )
d
c. n = s
K

1/ 3

s

W

W
d. r = nK
s

, where ds = scour depth (this is the minimum bedding layer thickness)

1/ 3

e. width: Bbed = Btt + 2 (5 m)

f. V = Bbed r
23. Breakwater weight (load on soil) - In order to generalize the calculation for use with concrete
armor units, the weight of the armor layer is calculated separately from the rest of the
breakwater. Also, the load is separated into above and below the low water mark (h) to correct
for buoyancy.
a

th

a. Volume of Underlayer & core above DLW:

Vu = 12 h( a + b ) where
h = DHW + R DLW ra
a = 2ra cot + B 2t ha

b = 2( DHW + R DLW ) cot + B 2t ha

b. Volume of Armor Layer above DLW:
Va = 12 h( a + b ) where
h = DHW + R DLW
a=B
b = 2( DHW + R DLW ) cot + B
c. Volume of Underlayer & core below DLW:

Vu = 12 h( a + b ) where
h = DLW
a = 2( DHW + R DLW ) cot + B 2t ha
b = Bb 2t ha
d. Volume of Armor Layer below DLW:
Va = 12 h( a + b ) where
h = DLW
a = 2( DHW + R DLW ) cot + B
b = Bb
e. Weight of layers:
i. above DLW

W = V 1
s
100

ii. below DLW

W = V 1
( s w )
100

24. Soil Load ()

a. Base width redistributed through the bedding layer: B = Btt + 2rbed cot bed
b. Load at top of bedding layer: t = [ (Wu + Wa ) above DLW + (Wu + Wa ) below DLW + Wtoe ] Btt
c. Load at bottom of bedding layer:

= t ( Btt B ) + Wbed Bbed

25. Allowable Bearing Capacity

a. Normally consolidated clay:

cu po = 0.11 + 0.0037 ( LL PL )

b. Layered Sand, Dense over Loose (Das, 1994)

1
qu ( t ) = c1 N c ( 1) + 1 D f N q (1) + 1 BN (1)
2
1
qu ( b ) = c2 N c ( 2 ) + 1 ( D f + H ) N q ( 2 ) + 2 BN ( 2 )
2
2
H 2D f
1 +
K s tan 1 H or qu qu (t )
qu = qu ( b ) + 1
B
H
c. Layered Sand, Loose over Dense (from Das, 1994)
1
qu ( b) = c2 N c ( 2) + 2 D f N q ( 2 ) + 2 BN ( 2 )
2

H
, Hf = depth of failure surface ~ 2B
qu = qu ( t ) + qu ( b) qu ( t ) 1
Hf

d. Layered Clay - Stronger over Weaker ( = 0), (Das, 1994)

2c H
qu = cu ( 2 ) N c + a + 1 D f or qu qu (t )
B
qu ( t '') = cu (1) N c + 1 D f
e. Granular Stratum over Soft Clay (Herbich, 1991)
2 1 H 2 2 D f
1 +
qu = cu ( 2 ) N c +
B
H
q
f. Allowable bearing capacity: q a = u
FS
26. Depth of calculation in lower layer:

K s tan 1 + 1 D f

H = 4Btt - (upper layer depth)

27. Compression Index: Cc = slope of the e-log p curve:

Empirically:

Cc =

Rendon-Herrero (1983)
Terzaghi & Peck (1967)
Nagaraj and Murty (1985)

28. Swell index:

or qu qu (t )

C S 101 CC to 15 CC

e1 e2
e
=
log p2 log po + p
po
p1

1 + eo

C c = 0.141G
Gs
C c = 0.007( LL% 10 )

LL( % )
C c = 0.2343
Gs
100

29. Initial load and void ratio

a.

2.38

1.2
s

po = w DHW + 1 H upperlayer + 12 2 H [H from eq. (26)]

b. eo = wG
30. Settlement
a. Normally consolidated soil (pc = po + p):

S =

po ( i ) + p( i )
Cc H i
log

1 + eo
po ( i )

b. Overconsolidated soil (pc po + p):

S =

p + p( i )
Cs H i
log o ( i )

1 + eo
po ( i )