Large scale stability tests on the Barcelona breakwater

For the planned expansion of the port of Barcelona, the existing breakwater needs to be extended with 1000 m. The design of the new section has to be optimized and for this purpose experiments were performed in the CIEM flume at the LIM/UPC in Barcelona. The design of the existing breakwater is used as an initial design. An other part of this work involves the comparison of existing design formulae with the obtained results to check their applicability for this specific case. Focussed is on wave reflection by the structure, waves overtopping the structure, hydrodynamic stability of the armour layer, and hydrodynamic stability of the toe construction. The cross section has been modelled at a scale of 1:16. Three different wave "steepnesses" have been generated, 3.2, 4.3 and 6.1% which correspond with Iribarrennumbers on the breakwaterslope of 3.7, 3.2 and 2.7 respectively. Reflection was measured by a set of wave gauges separating incident and reflected wave spectra, the overtopping was measured by counting the waves causing overtopping, armour layer stability was measured by counting the number of displaced elements by comparing photographs, and changes in the toe profile were measured at the window in one of the side walls of the flume. From the obtained results conclusions were drawn for the applicability of the different design formulae. Furthermore modifications to improve the cross section are suggested and directions of investigations to expand our knowledge of breakwaters are given.Hydraulic EngineeringCivil Engineering and Geoscience