Armor Porosity and Hydraulic Stability of Mound Breakwaters

Abstract

Armor porosity significantly affects construction costs and hydraulic stability of mound breakwaters; however, most hydraulic stability formulas do not include armor porosity or packing density as an explicative variable. 2D hydraulic stability tests of conventional randomly-placed double-layer cube armors with different armor porosities are analyzed. The stability number showed a significant 1.2-power relationship with the packing density, similar to what has been found in the literature for other armor units; thus, the higher the porosity, the lower the hydraulic stability. To avoid uncontrolled model effects, the packing density should be routinely measured and reported in small-scale tests and monitored at prototype scale.