BERM BREAKWATERS—STATE OF THE ART

The Berm breakwater concept in its form is relatively new with regard to design of traditional rubble mound breakwaters. Unlike conventional breakwaters requiring heavy armouring, smaller armour stones could be utilized in berm breakwater, eliminating the use of heavy machinery in construction. There is also substantial energy dissipation due to the presence of the berm. A wider berm is provided at or around the mean water level which allows reshaping of the armour slope due to wave action until equilibrium profile is attained. The research work available to the authors till date, on the various aspects of the berm breakwaters has been presented in this paper. The literature presented includes state of the art on berm width, berm elevation, armour size criteria, crest elevation of the breakwater etc.