Fact Sheet
US Army Corps of Engineers
U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center
January 2003
Public Affairs Office
3909 Halls Ferry Road Vicksburg, MS 39180-6199 (601) 634-2504
CHL web site http://chl.erdc.usace.army.mil
Design for Wave Protection at Chicago Harbor, Illinois
Purpose: To study wave conditions for the existing harbor and the impacts of various breakwater breaches on wave
conditions in the harbor, and to determine optimum improvements that will provide acceptable wave conditions
within the harbor during periods of storm wave activity.
Background: Chicago Harbor is located
on the southwestern shoreline of Lake
Michigan at the mouth of the Chicago
River. Construction was initiated in
1833 with dredging of a channel and the
construction of piers extending into the
lake on the north and south sides of the
river.
The
modern-day
inner
breakwaters were built south of the
Chicago River mouth between 1874 and
1880 and the outer breakwaters were
constructed between 1889 and 1923.
Improvements, repairs, and general
maintenance of the structures have
continued until present day.
The
Chicago Harbor Breakwater system is a
combination of several types of
structures combined to provide protec-
tion to the Chi
Facts: At the request of the U.S. Army Engineer District, Chicago, a 1:120-scale physical hydraulic model was
designed and constructed at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center by the Coastal and
Hydraulics Laboratory to study wave conditions for existing conditions and proposed harbor modifications. The
model reproduces approximately 18,000 ft of the Illinois shoreline, the entire Chicago Harbor complex, and offshore
bathymetry in Lake Michigan to depths of 30 ft or greater. A 160-ft-long unidirectional, spectral wave generator, an
automated data acquisition and control system, and capacitance-type wave gauges are being used in model
operation. Modifications are being made to the breakwaters that will alleviate undesirable wave conditions in the
harbor and provide acceptable conditions. The impacts of various hypothetical breakwater breaches on wave
conditions in the harbor are also being studied.
Points of Contact: For additional information, please contact
Mr. Robert Bottin at 601-634-3827 ( ), or
Mr. Dennis Markle at 601-634-3460 ( )"> ).
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