STATUS OF RESEARCH IN SHORE LINE PROTECTION 



by 



Joseph M, Caldwell 



Chief, Research Division, Beach Erosion Board 



Corps of Engineers, Department of the Army 



This paper was prepared for and delivered at 

 the August 1955 meeting of the American Society of 

 Civil Engineers at Berkeley, California. Since 

 this paper was not printed in the Proceeding of the 

 American Society of Civil Engineers nor included as 

 one of their separates, but does rather completely 

 sum up the overall picture regarding the status 

 of investigation and knowledge in the field of 

 coastal engineering, it is reproduced here as infor- 

 mation of probable interest to readers of the 

 Bulletin. 



Increasing use of the shores of the United States for recreation 

 and seasonal housing developments has created greater public interest 

 in the development of shore protection measures. Eroding shores have 

 historically presented very interesting geological studies, but when 

 the erosion exposes homes, roads, piers, parking lots, restaurants, 

 hotels, railroads, canneries, beach clubs, and other miscellaneous con- . 

 structions to undermining and wave damage, the study of shore line 

 protection becomes of more practical and immediate concern. 



The difficulty and expense of isolating and measuring the wave 

 forces and shore characteristics which produce erosion militated against 

 controlled research in this field until the economic pressure became 

 great enough to clearly justify such action. Programmed research in 

 this field began some fifteen years or so ago and has been accelerated 

 since 1945 when Congress authorized the Beach Erosion Board of the Corps 

 of Engineers to undertake research in this field. Prior to 1945, shore 

 protection work in this country was done more or less on an empirical 

 basis with relatively little funding to improve the status of knowledge. 



The empirical approach by itself was not adequate due to the 

 variations in the problem from place to place; it led not only to 

 remarkable successes but also to disappointing failures. Present re- 

 search is generally pointed toward establishing the fundamental concepts 

 of shore processes on a quantitative basis and melding these findings 

 with empirical knowledge in order to make shore protection a practical 

 engineering science. 



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