Practical design guidance for breakwaters on sandy coasts with large tidal ranges

This study developed guidance for coastal engineers designing nearshore detached breakwaters to control beach erosion on a sandy coast with large tidal ranges.

• From: Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Research and Development Programme and Environment Agency
• Published: 18 February 2021

• Category: Whole life asset management
• Topics: Asset system optimisation, Coast, Coastal erosion, Design and build, Resilient infrastructure
• Project status: Completed
• Project code: SC060026
• Date of completion: 28 February 2010

Documents

Guidance for outline design of nearshore detached breakwaters on sandy macro-tidal coasts (1.5 MB) PDF

Practical design guidance for nearshore detached breakwaters - summary (431 KB) PDF

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Details

This study developed guidance for designing nearshore detached breakwaters to control beach erosion on a sandy coast with large tidal ranges. One of the limitations of the existing design guidance for designing breakwater schemes is that it’s designed for beaches with small tidal ranges (less than 2m). However, more than 75% of the UK coastline is exposed to larger tidal ranges (more than 2m) and existing guidance is therefore not applicable.

This guidance is intended for use by experienced coastal engineers at the stage of assessing options for a new breakwater scheme. The guidance is based on detailed mathematical modelling studies of the effect of breakwaters on beaches, supported by site observations.

This project was started in 2006 and completed in 2010.

Published 18 February 2021