Experimental study on settlement and scour characteristics of artificial reef with different reinforcement type and soil type

An artificial reef has been actively installed to restore marine ecosystems and increase fish catching. The artificial reef which installed on soft ground loses its function due to the settlement and scour of seabed. This study performed a series of laboratory tests to investigate settlement and scour characteristics of seabed according to different reinforcement type, reinforced area and soil type. Two reinforcement types with different reinforced area were applied to reduce settlement and scour of ground: geogrid and geogrid-bamboo mat. Soil types of ground are clay, silt and sand deposits. A series of laboratory tests includes California bearing ratio test, large size settlement test, and two-dimensional wave channel test. The test results indicated that the reinforced artificial reef had less settlement and scour depth than the unreinforced artificial reef. Especially, the artificial reef reinforced with geogrid-bamboo mat had more improved stability than that with geogrid due to high bending stiffness of bamboo mat.