Breakwater Enhancement: Redesign Tetrapod Structures for Resilient Coastal Environments and Marine Ecosystem Rehabilitation
Global coastal erosion, exacerbated by climate change, poses a pressing threat with widespread repercussions, necessitating innovative and sustainable solutions. Tetrapod structures, while effective in coastal defense, suffer from their drawbacks, including substantial carbon emissions from concrete usage, limited mobility and deployability due to their massiveness, scalability challenges in fabrication, and their non-ecofriendly density, which hinder their overall efficacy. This thesis addresses these limitations by leveraging computational design, digital fabrication, and alternative materials to improve tetrapod structures. The goal is to transform them into a more sustainable and ecologically friendly coastal protection solution. Through mitigating carbon emissions, enhancing mobility, and reducing ecological impact, the proposed optimizations aim to make tetrapod structures a powerful force for protecting coastlines and rehabilitating marine ecosystems. This research advocates for a revitalized approach to coastal defense, considering environmental and practical factors in the face of a growing global coastal crisis.