Modern design of berm breakwaters began about thirty years ago. However, to date, there has been a lack of a well-established, formal design methodology on berm breakwaters. The authors Dr Jentsje van der Meer and Sigurdur Sigurdarson combine over 40 years of collective experience working with breakwaters to put forward a design framework in Design and Construction of Berm Breakwaters; covering the science and design practices of berm breakwater structures. The original design consisted of mass armoured berms that reshaped into statically stable S-shaped slopes. The design was adopted in Iceland and eventually led to a development with more stable structures by using available rock sizes, large rock, and more rock gradings than just "small rock (core)" and "large rock (berm)". This more stable and only partly reshaping structure is called the Icelandic-type berm breakwater.
Written for researchers and practitioners, the volume consists of chapters on geometrical designs of the berm breakwater cross-section, including berm reshaping and wave overtopping, quarry and project management, as well as blasting and sorting techniques, designs for various wave conditions and available rock classes, and case studies of already constructed berm breakwaters.