Armor Stone Abrasion due to Displacements in Sea Storms

Abstract

A model to estimate volume loss of armor stones caused by abrasion under wave conditions occurring during a structure’s lifetime is proposed. It accounts only for abrasion caused by stone movements, neglecting the effects of stone breakage, wetting-drying, freezing-thawing cycles, and chemical attack and is based on the assumption of proportionality between abraded volume and abrasion work. The model represents rock resistance to abrasion and to unit size and makes use of empirical relationships providing the average frequency of movement and displacement length of armor units. Wave loading is described with a probabilistic analysis. The present model is discussed in the light of a previous one. The comparison makes possible the estimation of the influence of external agents, other than stone mobility and size, on volume loss.