that a significant parameter affecting the capacity of a breakwater to 

 influence littoral transport is the ratio of the length of the structure 

 to the distance offshore. For this project, this ratio was 1:2.75. This 

 breakwater provided excellent performance in suppressing waves, meeting 

 design goals, and satisfying the operator's needs. Overall performance may 

 also be considered excellent. 



Fouling Characteristics: A variety of marine life inhabited the structure 



including barnacles, tube-building worms, oysters, crustaceans and small 

 fish. The operator noted that a few of the oyster seed reached three 

 inches in 6 months and over half had done so by 9 months. He also 

 observed the transitory appearance of rooted submerged grasses in the wave 

 shadow, in spite of severe cold. 



Project Analysis: This case history illustrates a second potential use of 

 floating breakwaters, that of restricting sediment movement. In this 

 capacity, the FTB appeared to work well. Tying the belting into square 

 knots was a needless difficulty which the operator later discovered. The 

 efforts to prevent sand accumulation in the tire bases were innovative, 

 though the use of truck tires to keep the structure off the bottom was 

 probably the sole reason for the project's success in this regard. The 

 holes in the tire bases could have easily been plugged by fouling growth 

 and, as noted by the operator, the tires would rotate and turn this 

 feature of the design against itself. Whether trapped air was a 

 sufficient flotation system is unclear since the project's life was too 

 short to determine the side effects of the fouling growth in time. 

 Nonetheless, it was a well thought-out design and highly successful for 

 its duration. 



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