Seawalls: Performance and their failure analysis along Southern Karnataka, West Coast of India

Abstract

Beach erosion is a major problem along the south west coast of India. The beach erosion particularly along the south Karnataka coast is due to, 1) direct attack of waves in an open coast, which might have been intensified in some areas due to wave refraction, 2) erosion at river mouths where one or two rivers together join the sea. The coastal protection works adopted along the South Karnataka coast are mainly the seawalls. However, some portions of these seawalls have been damaged either partially or fully. A critical study shows that these failures are due to the scouring at the toe structure. Scouring causes the failure of the seawall due to loss of support. A calculated risk may be taken to design the seawall without taking scour depth into account but provide for adequate maintenance in case scour occurs and partial failure of the seawall takes place. 2012 Cafet-Innova Technical Society. All rights reserved.