Stability of Wide-Graded Rubble Mounds
Publication: Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering
Volume 139, Issue 3
Abstract
The reshaping of temporary rubble mounds such as breakwater cores or reclamation bunds is a concern for maritime contractors. Literature formulas for the prediction of such behavior provide little insight in the influence of the wide stone size gradation of the materials involved. Laboratory tests carried out on model structures built with very wide-graded materials ( up to 18) showed that increasing the grading reduces the stability of a slope. It was also observed that the steepness of the initial slope has an influence on the reshaping mechanism. Partly based on the Van der Meer formulas for dynamic stability, new formulas that take into account the parameter are derived for the estimation of important features of a reshaped slope. The new formulas reflect in a simple mathematical expression the experimental evidence, namely the destabilizing effect of a wider grading and of a steeper initial slope. Thus, they are also suitable to be implemented in new or existing numerical models.
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Acknowledgments
The work behind this paper was possible thanks to the financial support of Hydronamic/Royal Boskalis Westminster and to the technical support of the Delft University of Technology, who provided the facilities for the execution of laboratory tests and the necessary expertise to accomplish the tests. The authors thank Jentsje Van der Meer who provided numerical results from other laboratory tests and Renata Archetti and Alberto Lamberti for valuable advice.
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Published In
Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering
Volume 139 • Issue 3 • May 2013
Pages: 157 - 170
Copyright
© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 20, 2011
Accepted: May 24, 2012
Published online: May 29, 2012
Published in print: May 1, 2013
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