PART
INTRODUCTION
Background
1.
The US Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) is responsible for a wide va-
riety of coastal structures located on the Atlantic, Pacific, and gulf coasts,
the Great Lakes, the Hawaiian Islands, other islands, and inland waterways.
Coastal improvements such as breakwaters or jetties are necessary where safe
harboring or passage of shipping is required. These structures are continu-
ously subjected to wave and current forces and are usually constructed on top
of movable-bed materials.
Under these conditions structural deterioration can
occur and, at some point, maintenance is required if the structure fails to
serve the existing needs of the project.
Some o f these projects have been
maintained for 150 years or more.
Methods of construction (and repair) have
varied significantly during this time, principally because of a better under-
ing wave climates, regional construction practices, and economic considerations.
Purpose
2.
The purposes of the case histories of Corps breakwater and jetty
structures are to lend insight into the scope, magnitude, and history of
coastal breakwaters and jetties under Corps jurisdiction, to determine their
maintenance and repair history, to determine their methods of construction, to
make this information available to Corps personnel, and to address objectives
of the Repair, Evaluation, Maintenance and Rehabilitation research program.
To accomplish these objectives, case histories have been developed to quantify
past and present problem areas (if any), to take steps to rectify these prob-
lems, and to subsequently evaluate the remedial measures. General design
guidance can be obtained from those solutions that have been most successful.
Information in this report should be of particular value to Corps personnel in
the US Army Engineer Division; South Atlantic (SAD), and its coastal districts
and possibly to non-Corps personnel. Where adequate solutions are lacking or
where specific guidance is needed, further research will be conducted to
general armor stability, toe protection, local-
address these problems
ized damage, use o f dissimilar armor, wave
and overtopping).
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