Stability analysis of breakwaters on the West coast, Ca Mau province

Abstract

The objective of this study is to assess the stability of three types of breakwaters on the west coast in Tran Van Thoi district, Ca Mau province. The study conducted the collection of geological and topographic data combined with monitoring the settlement of breakwaters. In addition, the settlement of breakwaters was calculated according to two methods: the analytic method - the partial settlement layer and the finite element method. After that, the results were verified by actual settlement monitoring data. The results of settlement calculation and monitoring show that pile-rock breakwater is the lowest among the three types with settlement calculated by two methods of 76.9 and 51.7 mm, respectively and the largest observed settlement is 60.0 mm. Busadco has a settlement by mentioned methods of 84.9 mm, 55.6 mm, respectively, and the largest observed settlement is 100.0 mm. The semi-circle breakwater has the highest stability coefficient calculated by the finite element method (FS=1.805). However, the observed settlement of this breakwater type is also the highest, up to 210.0 mm. The overall stability coefficient (FS) of breakwaters tends to increase with the increases of terrain elevation from the breakwaters side back to land (due to deposition). The results show that the stability of breakwaters is very good, which can be applied to coastal areas that are in the process of strong erosion.