Laboratory Study for Design of Tsunami Barrier

Two-dimensional laboratory tests were conducted on rubble-mound barrier trunk sections to obtain design criteria for rehabilitation of the existing barrier and construction of a new one at Hilo Harbor, Hawaii. The test sections were subjected to the attack of tsunamis. Proposed designs involved overtopping and nonovertopping barrier sections with protective cover layers of quarrystones and tribars. Test results indicated that the great expense involved in rehabilitating the existing breakwater and building the proposed barrier, the uncertainty in predicting the design tsunami, and the catastrophe which usually results from the failure of protective works, made it impractical to employ barriers as a means of protection of Hilo Harbor from future tsunamis.