World’s First Pre-Stressed Concrete Floating Breakwater

Claimed to be the first of its type in the world, the initial 140 metre section of a pre-stressed concrete floating breakwater was floated out into the River Clyde, Scotland recently.
This first section will form part of a floating wave barrier 670 m long and displacing 2,053 tonnes for the new Rhu Marina on the north bank of clyde.
The depth of the water at this site is 8 m and, the breakwater will give protection to the craft moored in the 500 berths in the marina during all predicted weather conditions.
The breakwater is suitable for both shallow and deep water and its basic design provides a horizontal rather than a vertical barrier to wave motion, thus interrupting the vertical movement of the water inherent in wave propagation.
This causes the waves to dissipate their energy on the structure, leaving an area of calm water behind. It will consist of a torsion path structure comprising a system of hollow pre-stressed concrete beams stressed together in a parallel
‘zig-zag’ formation and with internal voids filled with expanded polystyrene.