State of the Art in the Conceptual Design of Breakwaters

Design and construction of coastal structures have always been a challenge as engineers are working in still more exposed locations, and the former acceptance of some failures caused by the inpredictable sea is no more valid . Today it is generally expected that the coastal engineer can cope with the vagaries of nature and produce structures which will survive and function for several generations. The design tools available to us are better than ever and we can, in a rational way, deal with the uncertainties inherent in sea states and structural responses. Provided no failure mode is overlooked we can in fact design on the basis of target probability of specific damage within structure lifetime, identified by economic optimization.