A STUDY OF DAMAGE MECHANISM OF ARMOUR BLOCKS AT TOE OF RUBBLE MOUND FOUNDATION USING 2D HYDRAULIC MODEL EXPERIMENT AND NUMERICAL SIMULATION

Abstract

 The damage of armor blocks occasionally occurs at the toe of a mound foundation of a breakwater although the block weight is larger than the one calculated by the Hudson equation. This paper aims to elucidate the mechanism in detail by conducting 2D experiment and 2D numerical simulation. By 2D hydraulic model experiments, acceleration of the offshore flow on the block has a high correlation with damage of the armor block. By 2D numerical calculation, the lifting force exerts on the armor block when the flow direction around the block transitions to offshore from onshore, and a large lifting force to act as the weight of a large block.