RELIABILITY OF RUBBLE-MOUND BREAKWATER STABILITY MODELS

Designing rubble-mound breakwaters to withstand the forces of wave action in such a way as to obtain safe and economical structures is difficult. It is necessary in many cases, therefore, to conduct scale-model investigations to determine the optimum design. The purpose of this report is to explain the basis upon which rubble-mound stability models are designed, constructed, and operated, and to provide information from which the accuracy of such models can be appraised. It was concluded that hydraulic scale models can be used to determine the stability of rubble-mound breakwaters, and that the accuracy of the test results will fall within the limits required to design safe and economical prototype structures, if the model is designed and operated correctly and the test conditions are selected judiciously.