Riprap

Riprap protecting a concrete retaining wall

Riprap, also known as rip rap, rip-rap, shot rock, rock armor, or rubble, is human-placed rock or other material used to armor shorelines, streambeds, bridge abutments, pilings and other shoreline structures against scour and water, wave, or ice erosion. Common rock types used include granite and modular concrete blocks. Rubble from building and paving demolition is sometimes used.

Riprap is also used underwater to cap immersed tubes sunken on the seabed to be joined into an undersea tunnel.

Gallery

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  Concrete rubble used as riprap along the San Francisco Bay shoreline
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  Modular concrete block riprap
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  Modular concrete block riprap
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  Modular concrete block riprap
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  Riprap lining a lake shore
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  Riprap closing off a channel on the Mississippi River
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  Riprap protecting a levee
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  Crews replacing riprap at Galveston Seawall after a 1915 hurricane

See also

• Debris
• Rubble
• Tetrapod (structure)
• Wave-dissipating concrete block

References

• Ciria-CUR (2007) - Rock Manual - The use of rock in hydraulic engineering.
• N.W.H. Allsop (2002) - Breakwaters, coastal structures and coastlines.
• US Dept. of Transportation (2004) - Trail Construction and Maintenance Notebook

External links

• Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources riprap guide
• US Bureau of Reclamation publication on riprap for dam overtopping
• Minnesota DNR
• USGS Minerals Yearbook: Stone, Crushed