PAPER NO: 156 PROTECTION OF THE GELA CAISSON BREAKWATER WITH CORE-LOC™ ARMOURING TECHNIQUE

The 1.2 km long offshore caisson breakwater of Gela industrial harbour on the SW coast of Sicily was built in the early 60's upon a shallow seabed to provide shelter to a Jetty and rear berths for oil tankers. The 60 caissons (20.4 m x 14.0 m) are sitting on a thin rubble foundation in 12-13 in water depth. The recurved reinforced concrete parapet wall now reaches +6.0 m MSL, following about 1 m settlement after construction. The reinforced concrete is quite deteriorated. The crown wall and the pipelines behind it have been damaged by overtopping storm waves, especially during a severe storm in November 1991. The parapet has been locally repaired and for small portions it is raised up to +8.3 m MSL to protect vulnerable facilities.