The purpose of this experimental modelling study was to provide data on the hydraulic performance and stability of low-crested and conventional rubble mound breakwaters (RMBW) constructed using ecologically-friendly armour units under various wave conditions. The University of Ottawa, the National Research Council of Canada (NRC), and ECOncrete Tech. Ltd. collaborated to develop and conduct the physical testing program. This experimental program is essential to promote environmentally-friendly armour units in the design of new coastal structures (such as Baker et al., 2018), as well as ecological retrofitting of existing coastal structures. The physical tests were conducted between June 2023 and August 2023 at NRC's Ocean, Coastal, and River Engineering Research Center in Ottawa, Canada. ECOncrete's Coastalock armour units were tested in various configurations at a 1/15 scale using two-dimensional low-crested and conventional RMBW models under severe wave conditions to investigate their hydraulic performance and failure mechanisms.
