Tetrapods North the Arctic Circle By SVERRE KJELSTRUP, Chief Engineer, Norwegian Ports Authority, Sth Distrct-Tromss Historical Berlevaag is a small fishing port of some 1,500 inhabitants, situated on the Nor Wwegian coast inside the Aretie Circle, mid way between the North Cape and the port of Vard6, which is not far from the Russian order. ‘The climate is harsh and fishing is the sole means of livelihood. For over a century, however, the rich bounty of the sea, which hardly varies from year to year, has assured the prosperity of the coastal population in this province of Finnmarken, Which is exposed co winds of gale force. There are few good harbours in this region. There is also a lack of natural ‘tection in the form of reefs and islets 4 the Arctic Ocean can on occasion dis- play a savage power. Berlevaag is par- ticularly vulnerable to storms from N. to E. The only other harbour of any size in the area is Baatsfjord where the annual catch, in the region of 28,000 tons, is larger than any other brought in on Nor- way's northern seaboard. Harbour improvement at Berlevaag started at the beginning of the 20th Cen- tury with the deepening of the natural harbour basin of “Vagen” which consti- tutes the port proper, In 1909, however, a large number of the ‘raft in this harbour were destroyed by a nor’ nor’ easterly storm, As a resul:, the Varnes breakwater was built, being finished in 1926. ° ‘A scheme involving the construction of two new breakwaters was drawn up to extend. the area of available calm water inside the harbour. The Svartoksen break- water, the most westerly one, was begun towards 1920. The structure’ was of the ‘Sle mound embankment type. The awerry was five kilometres east of the bar- Dour and the link was provided by the railway line, but the rock fill available was ff very poor quality and therefore a great deal had to be quarried before blocks of the size required for the facing could be obtained. Nevertheless work was able to proceed at a steady pace until, in 1932, @ violent north-easterly gale destroyed the structure, It was then decided to rebuild and reinforce the breakwater, whilst retain jing a rock fill facing. By 1940, the struc- ture was still not complete and the con- S struction work was very much slowed, “down during the war. After being bombed by the Russians Berlevaag was set on fire of by the Germans during their retreat in 1944 and the whole area was destroyed, including the port installations The first necessity was to rebuild houses, next, to put the fishing harbour back int working order. It was not until somewhere around 1950 that work could be restarted on the breakwater. By 1958, the structure ARCTIC OCEAN Syartoksen mole (cenpit Brief Survey of Local Conditions Before proceeding with a detailed examination of the problems raised by the use of Tetrapods in Arctic waters, some account of the particular conditions at Berlevaag may not be out of place, The tide range is relatively large, rea: ing 3.60 m. for spring tides, whilst the average range is 2.50 m, The summer is short but on occasions temperatures may be very high, e.g, temperatures of over 30°C. have been recorded but they did not last more than a few weeks. Winter sem- eratures can be as low as - 20°C. and en ~25°C, generally accompanied by strong winds.” This means that the break- water is covered with a thick layer of ice jn winter but on the other hand the sea never freezes over at Berlevaeg and the i983) Revnes mole (under censircion) ov 100 2000 2s0m ee ‘ie plan of Berlevaag Horbour, Finnmark was within 50 metres of completion. The facing on the seaward side was built up from 15 ton conerete cubes. On the 6th of January, 1959, however, another fierce gale, this time from the E.N-E., wrecked the seaward end of the breakwater along some 90 metres and all the concrete blocks were washed down on to the harbour side. Although the damage was less than in 1932 the breakwater tip had to be rebuilt again. In 1959, after much theoretical and scale model design research, it was decided to use Tetrapods in the facing breakwater is therefose free from damage caused by ice pressure, Sea temperatures remain above freezing and the concrete structures affected by the tide range are subjected to freeze and thaw twice daily These conditions call for the use of excep- tionally high quality concrete, Breakwater Profile Design Stwi Before the work of rebuilding the sea ward end of the Svartoksen breakwater could be undertaken it was essential to carry out design work and scale model tests to find the optimum profil./ —Teirspod armour om Svartoksen Mole The first necessity was to determine the characteristics of the waves which had destroved the structure in January 1959 The meteorological charts for this period were analysed and from the fetch, dura n und strength of the wind it was possi- ble to determine the wave amplitude. The observed damage was then reconstructed by means of stability tests on a scale model at the Maritime Section of the Technical University of Trondheim. An identical model cross-section of the breakwater was built to represent the structure before its destruction and subjected to waves of reasing amplitude, There was complete ‘eement between the results of both the eorologicsl study and the wave fume sts and it was therefore possible to estab- ish the amplitude of the highest waves of the storm at approximately & metres, Design studies were then carried out to Jetermine the final profile to be adopted che rebuilt structure, The model tesfs were carried out in Grenoble in the labora- ~ f Messrs. Sogreah (the Societé Grenobloise d'Etudes et 4'Applicarions Hydrauliques) on behalf of Sotramer Grenoble (the Société d’Exploitation de revets pour Travaux a la Mer). An essen: dition was the need to re-use the g 15-ton blocks stored nd those which had been washed away by the storm, which could covered. twas thought Sogreah design @ profile around crest these blocks, works built of The final design is shown in Fig. 1. The breakwater armour is built of 15-ton (63 cu. m.) Tetrapods with two rows of 15- ton cubic blocks forming a platform for the mobile crane operat he (+6.20) level. The crest. works between the (6.20) and the (+8.00) levels consist of four 15-ton cubic blocks placed from the breakwater head after the main work had been completed and just before crane was This runni jon was designed to resist storms producing waves of up to 9 metres amplitude without serious age. For the more water head, however, ction was necessary. After further wave tank tests in Grenoble it was decided to uuse 25-ton (10 cu, m.) Tetrapods on a trun: sted cone shaped breakwater head, the stability of which was practically the same as that of the running section. As the vulnerable break: 2€ effective pro The model breakwoter heed in a wave tank, ships of this tonnage cannot hat Berlevaag and must anchor in the stead, being loaded and unloaded by lighters and bar the same direction, an even stronger design would be a square breakwater head faced with 25-ton (10 cu, m.) Tetrapods, but ia this case the safety factor would be higher than that of the running section, which is unnecessary, especially as it would also be more expensive, Other thkee dimensional experimental studies, toa scale of 1:110, were carried cout in the Trondheim laboratory to investi- te methods of countering waves from the ‘open sea and to find out how the waves are damped inside the harbour. The object of these tests was to the layout and exact lengih of the second, breakwater to be built on eastern side and to find the best site for a quay for ocean going vessels. At the Revnes, The Works The west or Svartoksen breakwater has now been completed, Construction work the final breakwarer head protected by 25-ton Tetrapods is still going on and the Taising of the crest werks between the (46.20) and (+8.00) levels will be finished during the summer of 1968. Owing to the inlavourable climate it has not been possi- ble to maintain a very rapid rate of con: struction, The winter lasts until May and the site is unworkable before the end of ‘hat month, Thus only some four months are available for construction work, since the equinoetial gales start at the end of September or during October. A_t porary breakwater head of 15-ton Tetza pods must therefore be built early in Tetraped facing on Svartoksen Mole The model breakwater profile in @ wave flumeautumn every year in the hope that it will afford sufficient protection until the fol lowing spring. Special care must be taken with the nerere, In view of the risk of frost lamage, especially in the area affected by the tide range, the conerete used for the Tetrapods contains 400 kg. of cement per fe metre, craining agent in the form of a resinous oil is added and the mix, which must be as dry as possible (watercement ratio below 0.45) must. be efully vibrated. Specimens are taken egularly for compression the laboratory and the mean compressive strength after 28 days has always been over 300 kg./sa. em. The majority of the blocks are provided ng eye for easier removal each rapid positioning if a storm 1r as possible, however, the 1B eyes has been kept to a ninimum, since they represent a source of corrosion. Wherever possible slings have been used to place the Tetrapods. With a view to obtaining precise data on wave periods and amplitudes during storms, the Norwegian Port Authority has been operating a wave recorder for the past three years some 400 metres out to sea from the Svarioksen breakwater. ‘The pressure variations on the sea bed are relayed 10 the shore station by cable and jn this way a continuous record can be Kept of the waves during storms. Preporing 10 pour concrete in Tetrepod. Results Obtained Several storms occurred during the winter of 1961-1962 and wave amplitudes of some six metres were observed, A certain limited amount of settling took place on the temporary breakwater head, faced with 63 cu. m. Tetrapods, and some blocks broke away from the main ‘mass during the winter of 1961-1962 but no serious damage was observed. During the north-easterly gale of 10th December, 1962, on the other hand, when the maxi- mum amplitude was 7.44 m. for a period of 12 seconds, no damage was suffered by the breakwater, Work Still to be Done If the port of Berlevaag is to be com pletely protected against storms the second (Revnes) breakwater must be built, The layout has been chosen but certain details of the profile have still to be determined. The first 200° metres have already been built and protected by means of @ rubble armour. As this part of the breakwater lies in shallow water a lightly-built steuc~ re was acceptable. The rest of the break- fer on the other hand will be subjected to the same conditions as the Svartoksen one and the present intention is t0 build 4 very similar type of construction, with aan identical breakwater head. Conclusions ‘The improvement of Berlevaag harbour is a problem of great importance for this locality. The town was linked to the State road network in 1959 but the new road is impassable during the winter owing to the heavy snowfall. Thus for half the year the only access to Berlevaag is by ‘sea, which is moreover the source of livelihood of the inhabitants: the harbour is there- fore the corner stone of their existence The total cost of the work on this har- bour between 1903 and 1959 amounts to 16 million Kroner, i.e. over 10 million francs. The final cost, including the work of reinforcing the Svartoksen breakwater carried out since 1959 and the work of building the Revnes breakwater, still to be done, will amount to 31 million Kroner (over 20 million franes) ‘The manufacture and use of TETRAPODS are pyiented in over 60 countries, exclusive licensing rights being held by SOTRAMER, B.P.52, GRENOBLE, France (Gram: SOTRAMER — Telex No. 31.050 — Phone: 44.55-30). SOTRAMER is represented in 36 countries, with main Agents in the following cities:- LONDON Vauxhall Bridge Road, $.W.1 Grams: AFTRADERS Phone:- ViCtoria 0231 Telex:- No. 25.398 NEW YORK NEYRPIC I 375 Park Avenue, N.Y. 22 Grams:- NEYRPICAM Phone:- Plaza 1.1820 PARIS SOTRAMER 8, rue Bellini, XVIe Phone:- PASsy 51.09 Telex:- 27.963 Descriptive literature and a preliminary design are available to prospective Tetrapod users free and without obligation on request.