3D survey modelling for damage assessment in rubble-mound breakwaters under oblique wave incidence

Abstract

Several authors have proposed guidelines on how to consider the effects of oblique waves on the stability of armour layers of rubble-mound breakwaters. Especially for very oblique waves, for which the increase in stability is the largest, limited data are available. Under the scope of the HYDRALAB+ transnational access project “RODBreak”, experiments were conducted in a tank at the Marienwerder facilities of the Leibnitz University Hannover (LUH), comprising measurements of sea waves, runup, overtopping and armour layer damage of a rubble-mound breakwater under oblique extreme wave conditions. This paper focuses on the analysis of damage evolution of the breakwater roundhead subject to these conditions, on the novelty of the nonintrusive survey methodologies and on the advance in knowledge on roundhead stability.