International Journal of Advanced Engineering, Sciences and Applications (IJAESA) Volume 2, Issue 1 (2021), Pages 13-18

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47346/ijaesa.v2i1.56 ISSN: 2703-7266

Specifications and types of seawall structures needed to protect beaches

from sand erosion and storm disasters
Khosro Zehro

Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Near East University, Nicosia, Mersin10, Turkey

AR TICLE INFO ABS TRAC T

ARTICLE HISTORY: When someone decides to buy a house or any other estate near the shoreline, they do not
think that in future nature will impact the value of their asset significantly. Further to the
Received: 10 June 2020 risks of hurricanes or any other natural hazards (such as tsunami), waves are gradually
shifting the coastlines by displacing soil from a location to various areas. In recent decades,
Revised: 04 July 2020
coasts have been affected by a significant deterioration due to weather conditions, waves, and
Accepted: 27 July 2020 coastal soil erosion. Hence, it needs precise environmental consideration, and preserves
Published: 27 July 2020 coasts for leisure, specifying reasons that promoted effective technologies from immersed
structures to coastal nourishing. Therefore, by constructing sea-walls should prevent
shoreline environments, especially the mechanism of sedimentation, long-shore transfer of
KEYWORDS: sand, altering the coasts to the significant proportion which results from weathering and sea
waves sever. In this paper, an overview submitted to the kinds of seawalls and specifications
Seawall, coastal, needed to sustain the seawalls. There explained the positive and negative effects of seawalls
erosion, shoreline, on coastal area, and the required factors to enhance seawalls stabilization against
shore protection overturning and sliding failure. Also, the developed types of seawall structures have been
identified that, in addition to the more practical vertical model, the stepped, rubble-mound,
and curves have also been designed. It is recommended to coastal structure designer and
engineers, in the pre-construction stage should precisely be studied on the coast situation and
weathering conditions in the area, that is essential to make sustainable decisions and designs
for construction of these structures.

1. INTRODUCTION
By potential risks from storms and other environmental withstand waves, scouring, and beach erosion. Coastal
disasters, coastlines have gradually transformed, materials designs were considered recently, such as a barrier
eroding and moving from certain areas to others (Luo, between shore and sea, a global issue. Over decades to
2014). The storms are; hurricanes, tropical storms, stop the rate of erosion, coastal defence implemented a
typhoons, tornadoes, winter storms, and cyclones, resulting fence (commonly seawalls) formed a critical requirement
in casualties, their investment loss, and coastal (Church et al., 2013).
environment hazards. The lower sedimentary shores have A structural treatment such as groins, seawalls,
lesser flooding resistance (Liu et al., 2019). embankments, jetties, and levees has been a conventional
Temperature change, rising sea levels, and patterns of coastal disaster prevention mechanism, especially
rainfall are results of the natural climate cycle. preferred in the expansion of urban concentration near
Consequently, rising sea levels and both the average level seas, between much different sustainable developments,
of water and wave height will increase during the utmost widely considered (Davlasheridze & Fan, 2019). Nearly 60
weather conditions. This process induces erosion of soils per cent of the population is resident in coastal regions,
from shores resulting in beach intrusion and the impact on and about 100 kilometres in the coastline (Perkol et al.,
human activities (Jin et al., 2015). 2018).
Anything built on the shoreline is known as coastal Seawalls include self-supporting structures relating to
structures and constructed explicitly to the protection of the prevention of flooding or coastline retreats, and
the shoreline. This kind of structural system is designed to constructed mostly on coasts parallel to the coastline and
usually prepared of reinforced concrete to overcome
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 International Journal of Advanced Engineering, Sciences and Applications (IJAESA) Volume 2, Issue 1 (2021), Pages 13-18
DOI: https://doi.org/10.47346/ijaesa.v2i1.56 ISSN: 2703-7266

sliding or moments by overturning. The necessary design Table 1. Some common types of coastal structures and
part is the elevation of the crest, becoming over-topping of their functions
waves and run-up of the waves. Kind of
Aims and functions
Erosion was a natural coastal process that can be structure
short-term, long-term or periodic that is caused by factors Protection of structures and land from
as rises of sea level, losses of supplied sediments, wave Seawall Overtopping and flooding. Reinforcing of
behaviour changes. Fortunately, there are other strategies certain areas of the shore profile
Sheltering harbours entrances and basins,
in coastal engineering that support or avoid continued
and intakes of water from waves.
shorelines erosion which classified in various ways, Breakwater
Dissipation the energy of wave and wave
according to Kraus (1988) study such as: reflections back to the sea
• Hard stabilizations; include some enduring rigid Protecting shore erosion. Reducing long-
Groin
structures by a fixed position, like as; groins, seawalls, and shore transportation of sediments.
suspended breakwaters, Stabilizing channels at river entrances and
Jetty
• Soft stabilizations; refilling of the shores, inlets. Protecting storms disaster.
• Retreats and relocations; peoples transferred from Revetment
Protection of coasts from erosion.
near beaches to other locations to allow the process of Reinforcing certain part of shore profile
Prevent sea flooding energy from low-lying
natural recovery for the coast. shore areas. Separating coastline from
The seawalls construction has many limitations, which Sea dike
hinterland by structures with high
can be related to climate and conditions of the sea like the impermeability.
significant height of the wave, the average speed of the Maintain soil and preventing of behind soil
wind, and continually heavy rainfall (Yoo et al., 2013). By Bulkhead
sliding. Reinforcing the bank of the soil.
considering different techniques, it proved that the rubble- Nourishment of Preventing shore erosion and protection
mound type of seawalls construction is the cheaper type beaches and from flooding. Artificial infill of shores and
than others, which with ordinary workers, could construct construction of dune materials that eroded with waves in
it without using any machine. One more positive aspect is duns place of natural supplies.
the extension of construction year after year, regarding
funding availability (Manu et al., 2015).
The main objective of this study is to identify the four 4. SEAWALLS
types of seawall structures and their importance in
protecting beaches from erosion that necessary for people's Seawalls are usually coastal structures, which are
infrastructure investment safety assurance results from adjacent to the seashores. The fundamental roles of these
disasters near the coasts. Moreover, it explains the factors structures are, to inhibit marine areas erosion from
affecting the sustainability of these structures and flooding and prevention of the constructed building
preventing them from failure probabilities. structures near the shore. To create seawall structures,
different materials are used, including concrete,
gabion, cribs filled by stone, casting concrete in the site,
2. METHODOLOGY precast blocks, and prefabricated segments. The seawalls
types can be constructed in the vertical, curved, rubble-
The study's information was collected by the literature mound, or stepped surface. In certain situations, large
review of the recent coastal researches, and their structure by suitable foundations and practical toe support
investigation about climate conditions, erosion, design of needed to overcome and control the damage of significant
seawall structures, and stability needed for structures. wave effects (Sadeghi & Al-Othman, 2019).
Sea walls become factors of their-self demolition if
they not properly construct. The sea waves will crush
3. COASTAL STRUCTURES versus it, while decline its front face, strive to remove the
shore soil in its base, transferring of these soils, if not kept
down, forces the wall to be undermined and collapse. Sea
Shore structures used in the shore protection plans with walls not constructed to decrease soil sedimentation only,
the purpose of protecting beach erosion and hinterland but they protect industrial factories, bridges, railways, and
flooding. Other purpose includes protecting basins and roads from attacking by waves and storms. As also resist
entrances of harbours from waves, stabilizing inlet flooding damage on low lying areas (Williams et al.,
channels, and protecting water outfalls and intakes 2016).
(Burcharth & Hughes, 2003). Table 1 explains the Sea wall installed in the coastline at a specific location
different kinds of shore structures and their functions. that changes the hydrodynamic status by interacting with
repetitive sea waves. By controlling soil erosion from
cutting off sea walls, typical sediments supplied when

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 International Journal of Advanced Engineering, Sciences and Applications (IJAESA) Volume 2, Issue 1 (2021), Pages 13-18
DOI: https://doi.org/10.47346/ijaesa.v2i1.56 ISSN: 2703-7266

waves which impact sea wall reversed down, scouring the overtopping, and floods drain below the wall (see Fig. 2).
wall's toe as an outcome (Pilkey & Cooper, 2012). Additionally, to reduce waves' scouring, the toe section of
Sea walls construct to reduce the wave's power and soil the curve face wall is constructed by big stones (Sadeghi et
erosion that already exposed shorelines. The appropriate al., 2018).
design for the sea wall and its types depends on location-
specific features such as erosion processes around it
(Balaji et al., 2017).

5. TYPES OF SEAWALLS
The different details or types of the seawall are used to
construct along with the coastline structures such as
vertical, curved, rubble mound and stepped seawall. Others
include the gravity, seawalls made by concrete blocks, and
the piles made by sheets of steel.
Fig. 2. Seawall with curved face configuration
5.1. Vertical seawall
5.3. Stepped face seawall
Vertical-face sea walls generally consist of materials
Stepped types of the seawall are designed to resist and
like blocks of stone, mass concrete, and RC, and it can
reject moderate action of waves. Reinforcing concrete
construct as interlock walls by using concrete, wood
sheet pile used in the construction of these kinds of
piling, and steel. Another form of the vertical wall can
seawalls (see Fig. 3). The areas that built between sheet
install using rock-filled as a sizeable concrete wall that
piles are mostly filled by grouts to maintain sand cut off or
behaves like retaining walls against materials behind them
installation of geotextile fibres at the sheet piles' back, to
(Balaji et al., 2017).
generate a sand-tightened barrier. Installing geotextile is
Vertical face sea walls often constructed in situations
helpful since it facilitates water flowing through and thus
that are subjected to such wave power. Non-breaking static
prevents the development of hydrostatic pressures
waves arise during flood effects where it rolls upward and
(Sadeghi et al., 2018).
downward not horizontally. This wave promoting can
cause serious risk to the seawall in the wall toe. Fig.1
shows the detail of vertical face seawall (Williams et al.,
2016).

Fig. 3. Stepped face seawall

5.4. Rubble-mound seawall

Fig. 1. Vertical front seawall These kinds of seawalls were cheaper and easier for
construction and designing and could protect the energetic
5.2. Curved face seawall action of waves substantially (see Fig. 4.).

The curve face model will prevent walls from wave

overtopping and protect walls' toes effectively. Curved
face sea walls attempt to redirect all the risky wave power,
results from reflected energy of waves and considerably
reduced downdrafts (Vijayaraghavan et al., 2018). Curved
types seawall constructed to protect the impact of the
intense action of waves. By using piles' sheet cut off
seawalls can prevent the loss of materials in the foundation Fig. 4. Rubble-mound seawall
around, resulted in waves' scouring, eroding from water

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 International Journal of Advanced Engineering, Sciences and Applications (IJAESA) Volume 2, Issue 1 (2021), Pages 13-18
DOI: https://doi.org/10.47346/ijaesa.v2i1.56 ISSN: 2703-7266

Mound form of seawalls built by using rip rap or changing climate could also directly impact the
revetments, and usually in less requiring applications used, vulnerability of seawalls by:
where erosion process with low energy occurs. The least • Rising seas' level,
rate of exposure means the lower bulkheads' cost and • Increasing storms surge,
revetments' sandbag. These are serving to shores' armour • Increase in the height of waves,
and reduce erosion, also can either be waterproof or porous • Unpredictable geo-morphological impacts due to
form, allow the filtering of water after the dissipation of climate change.
the waves' power (Vijayaraghavan et al., 2018).

7. STABILITY OF SEAWALLS
6. FACTORS AFFECTING FAILURE IN
SEAWALLS Based on various factors like sea walls weight, the
different applied force upon seawalls, as well as the
According to Wang et al. (2012) and the site resistance of foundation soil and back-fill materials, the
investigators, the damaged mechanism of seawalls' failure rotation of seawalls could be toward shore or the seaside.
can be divided into two kinds: the collapse of the The seawall's stability verified by implementing the
introversion, and dispersion collapse. The sea walls equilibrium limit method regards the safety factor against
structures failure is strongly related to mortar sliding toward shores or overturning toward shore's failure
hydrodynamic effects and invalidation. Different types of modes. Based on the moving relationship between the
geotechnical or structural occurrences of failures are as water in pores and particles of soil, two conditions
following: considered, i.e., the first one is free-water, and the second
• Hydraulic uncertainty (primary armour depletion), is the water that restrained (Rajesh & Choudhury, 2016).
• Overtopping leads to scouring of seawalls' crest, There are a lot of strategies that could be placed in a
• Scour or erosion at the toe, way to enhance seawall's ability. Some alternatives
• Liquefaction (action of waves decreases sand outlined by the "climate change adaptation guidelines in
bearing capacity, allowing the armour to submerge), coastal management and planning" (Engineers Australia,
• Inside erosion (material losses of inside the wall), 2012). That including (but does not restrict to):
• Central instability, it is unusual for rock wall builds. • Retreat or permit occurrence of erosion,
Some types of common failures reported by surveying • Exposure reduction by raising the volume of the
in the UK with coastal authorities shown in Table 2 upper shore,
(Thomas & Hall, 2015). • Develop further layer of bigger armour unit in front
of seawalls, to enhance the armour unit stability,
Table 2. Different kinds of damages • Placement of further stones on the crest, expanding
No. of the width, and raising the height of the crest leads to
Seawall damages
occurrences minimizing the damage of overtopping,
Collapse 16 • Use the best practical design and integrate elements
Disintegration of concrete 9 that will enable to maintenance in the future (Tomlinson et
Armouring uplift 3 al., 2016).
Armour removal in revetments 19
Erosion in toe 63
Abrasion 16
Wash-out filled materials behind seawalls 10 8. POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE EFFECTS
Cracking in concrete 2 OF SEAWALLS ON COASTS
Settlement 2
Promenades damage 4 While coastal areas undergo erosion deterioration, for
Corrosion 3 controlling the effects of shore losses and damage of
Partial failure in crest 26 storms, using different strategies. Measures of Soft
Outflanking 3 stabilizing involve coast and re-nourishment of the dune,
Concrete spalling 2 which tend to remain as temporary, however significantly
Failure in structural members 5 expensive. Measures of hard maintaining like as; seawalls,
Landslip 5
groins, and jetties effectively prevent coast properties
Total 188
deteriorate. However, they have some negative effects on
beaches, as explained in Table 3 (Beatley et al., 2002;
Increasing seawalls exposure with a rising water level
Rizkalla & Savage, 2011).
during time is going to affect the overtopping, hydraulic
stabilization, and toe scouring as the sea wall experienced.
In the study by Mulcahy et al. (2017), it explained that
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 International Journal of Advanced Engineering, Sciences and Applications (IJAESA) Volume 2, Issue 1 (2021), Pages 13-18
DOI: https://doi.org/10.47346/ijaesa.v2i1.56 ISSN: 2703-7266

Table 3. Advantages and disadvantages of hard CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT

stabilization structures to coasts
Advantages Disadvantages The author declares that there is no conflict of interest.
Inhibit marine areas erosion Seawalls restrict access to
from flooding seawater
Prevent losses of the beaches Seawalls become unattractive
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.47346/ijaesa.v2i1.56 ISSN: 2703-7266

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