ABSTRACT
Coastal wave protection works include marine breakwaters, jetties, seawalls and groynes. Their purpose is to absorb wave energy, prevent foreshore erosion and enclose reclaimed land. In older breakwater designs this was done by deflecting rather than dissipating wave energy-slabby stones were fitted together to form a relatively tight, smooth surface. Although this technique, known as pitching, makes use of relatively small stones, it has been superseded because it requires much hand labour. Breakwaters may also be constructed of concrete blocks, precast armour units, steel sheet piles, caissons, stone-filled gabion baskets, and any combination of these materials. In this chapter, however, we will be chiefly concerned with the most common-and generally cheapest-type of breakwater, the rubble mound embankment. A typical example is illustrated in Figure 13.1.
