Development of Resilient Breakwater against Earthquake and Tsunami

Abstract

The coastal areas in Japan suffered devastating damage due to the great East Japan earthquake and tsunami in 2011. Breakwaters collapsed mainly because of foundation failures during the earthquake and tsunami. Due to the breakwater failures, the tsunami entered the coastal zones and imposed deep devastation. This study focused on the development of reinforcing countermeasures for a breakwater foundation that can produce a resilient breakwater against earthquakes and tsunamis, such as foundations reinforced with sheet piles and gabions. Physical model tests were carried out for scaled-down breakwater models to examine the performance of the reinforcing countermeasures under an earthquake and tsunami. During the tests, the developed reinforced model was found to be effective in mitigating the damage of the breakwater created by the earthquake and tsunami. Numerical simulations were performed to further clarify the mechanism.