Breakwaters

PRDW has a qualified team with years of experience designing practical and efficient breakwaters. Designing practical and efficient breakwaters in different wave climates and varying foundation conditions requires years of experience in addition to a solid theoretical understanding of breakwater stability. PRDW’s experience in breakwater design and construction dates back to the 1970’s and includes rock breakwaters, various concrete armour units (both single and double layers) as well as vertical breakwaters (caissons).

As specialists in breakwater design, PRDW has extensive experience in all aspects relevant to reliable and economic designs, including:

• Trade-off between vertical and rubble breakwaters
• Risk based approach to design waves and damage predictions
• Quarry assessments and grading optimisation
• Physical modelling of vertical and rubble breakwaters
• Rock and concrete armour trade-offs
• Practical construction aspects to optimise schedule and costs
• Assessment of construction wave climate and potential for using single armour layer units
• Efficient contract documentation
• Construction supervision

PRDW pioneered the use of Core-Loc armour units in 1994 with the design and construction of Port St Francis breakwaters. Since then, extensive experience has been built up as Core-Loc licensee for USA, Canada, Mexico and parts of Africa. This includes numerous breakwaters across the world. In-house software has been developed for 3D modelling of breakwater geometry as well as calculation of 3D placement grids for armour unit construction co-ordinates.