• Journal of Korean Society of Coastal and Ocean Engineers
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.95-107
• /
• 2002

A reliability analysis on sliding of monolithic vertical caisson of composite breakwaters is extensively carried out in order to make the basis for the applicability of reliability-based design method. The required width of caisson of composite breakwaters is determined by the deterministic design method including the effect of impulsive breaking waves as a function of water depth, also studied interactively with the results of reliability analyses. It is found that the safety factor applied in current design may be a little over-weighted magnitude for the sliding of caisson. The reliability index/failure probability is also seen to slowly decrease as the water depth increases for a given wave condition and a safety factor. In addition, optimal safety factor can roughly be evaluated by using the concept of target reliability index for several incident waves. The variations of optimal safety factor may be resulted from the different wave conditions. Finally, it may be concluded from the sensitivity studies that the reliability index may be more depended on the incident wave angles and the wave periodsrather than on the bottom slopes and the thickness of rubble mound.