The geotechnical design of a rubble-mound breakwater for Ancona harbour by using Eurocodes: selection of the geotechnical model

ABSTRACT: In the paper the site investigation and the process to define the geotechnical model for the design of a rubble-mound breakwater for the Ancona harbour are presented, in the light of Eurocode 7 which demands for a “cautious estimate” of geotechnical parameters. This proved particularly challenging in the marine environment, and required a series of site investigations characterised by a progressively increasing degree of complexity of the field works and of the technical means. As a consequence, the geotechnical design of the breakwater, in particular its position and the constituent material, had to be continuously updated to account for the results from the investigations. The paper gives an example of the importance of careful design of the site investigation whose characteristics are first of all determined by those of the geotechnical structure but, for its planning, requires that proper consideration is given to the implicit difficulties of the site investigation environment.