Rock Armour Stone

Coastal protection and erosion solutions – natural engineering


Overview

Stone, chosen for its structural integrity and aesthetic appeal

What is Rock Armour Stone?

Rock Armour Stone, also known as armourstone or riprap, is large, heavy, natural stone typically used for coastal protection, erosion control, and landscaping. It is characterised by its size, and its irregular shape. Typically, larger than standard gravel or crushed stone, Rock Armour Stone is selected for its durability, strength, and ability to withstand the impact of waves, currents, and weathering. It's commonly employed in constructing seawalls, breakwaters, revetments, and other shoreline stabilisation structures to prevent erosion caused by water action.

Rock Armour Stone for natural aesthetics

In landscaping, Rock Armour Stone is used to create retaining walls, borders, and decorative features due to its aesthetic appeal and ability to withstand outdoor elements.


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National supply capability

  • Tarmac can supply Rock Armour Stone across the UK.
  • Our materials are BS EN 13383 accredited
  • Sizes vary – talk to our teams to engineer the materials choice for your project.

Specialist quarry hubs

Supplies available nationally

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Where can Rock Armour Stone be used?

These are some of the key applications of rock armour stone, showcasing its versatility and importance in various engineering and environmental projects.

Coastal Protection

Rock Armour Stone is commonly used to protect coastal shorelines from erosion caused by waves, currents, and ice action.

Stream and Riverbank Stabilisation

It is utilised to stabilise stream and riverbanks, preventing erosion and maintaining the integrity of the watercourse.

Bridge Abutment Protection

Rock Armour Stone is employed to protect bridge abutments from scouring, ensuring the stability and longevity of the bridge structure.

Pilings

Strong, durable and natural materials Rock Armour Stone offers a more environmentally friendly alternative to metal or artificial pilings.

Coastal Revetments

It is used in the construction of coastal revetments, which are sloping structures designed to absorb and deflect wave energy, protecting coastal infrastructure.

Breakwaters

Rock Armour Stone is often incorporated into breakwater structures to provide protection for harbors, ports, and coastal developments by reducing wave energy.

Underwater Protection

It can be used underwater to protect submerged structures such as pipelines, cables, and tunnel caps from erosion and damage.

Scour Protection

Helps to defend against the erosion scour around offshore structures.

Landscaping

Rock Armour Stone is also utilised in landscaping projects for decorative purposes, such as creating retaining walls, rock gardens, and natural features.

Reservoirs

Rock Armour Stone can be used in the creation of new reservoirs and the maintenance of existing reservoirs.


The benefits of using Rock Armour Stone for coastal protection and erosion control

Using Rock Armour Stone in coastal protection and erosion control has several scientifically supported benefits:
By leveraging these scientifically validated benefits, the use of armourstone contributes to sustainable coastal management and helps mitigate the impacts of coastal erosion on both natural and human-made environments.

Rock Armour Stone, the natural choice for civil engineering, construction, and landscaping projects.

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Rip Rap


Rip Rap finds common use in constructing seawalls, breakwaters, revetments, and other shoreline stabilisation structures aimed at prevention of erosion caused by water action.

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Armourstone


Armourstone, known for its large size and irregular shape, it's often sourced from quarries for its durability, strength, and resilience against the elements.

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Additional info

Traditionally, steel mesh has been the material of choice for reinforcing concrete. However, the process is time consuming, labour intensive and with metal prices and transportation costs rising, it is not cost effective. TOPFORCE eliminates the need for traditional reinforcement without compromising performance, strength and durability. Using Topforce fibre reinforced concrete also reduces manual handling and health and safety related issues on site.

Topforce is reinforced with either macro synthetic polypropylene or steel fibres and can be designed to exclude traditional steel mesh reinforcement. Topforce fibre reinforced concrete is not only quicker and easier to place but it also contributes to the durability and performance of the finished construction.

Traditional concrete relies on layers of mesh or rebar to provide crack control and structural strength. To ensure maximum effectiveness these must be placed in exact locations. Even the smallest deviation can result in the concrete being unable to perform to design requirements. The fibres in the Topforce concrete provide 3D reinforcement, hence improving the performance of the concrete.

Available in two formulations, Topforce can be used for any flooring or hard standing application that requires the strength and durability of reinforced concrete. The range includes Topforce MF and Topforce SF and they differ in the way in which each is produced. Topforce MF is reinforced with macro synthetic fibres, Topforce SF is reinforced with steel fibres.

Topforce MF is reinforced with macro synthetic polypropylene fibres compliant to BS EN14889-2:2006 class II to deliver structural reinforcement across a three-dimensional plane to improve: crack control and durability, impact and abrasion resistance and corrosion resistance.

Topforce MF is ideal for all external applications and can also be designed to include micro polypropylene fibres to further reduce the risk of plastic shrinkage cracking.

Topforce MF has many applications including, internal floors (retail stores, warehouses etc.) including heavy industrial floors, external slabs (pavements & hard standings), roads & bridges, airport taxiways and as a highways sublayer.

Topforce SF is reinforced with steel fibres compliant to BS EN14889-2:2006 to increase: crack control and durability, impact and abrasion resistance and optimised joint spacing.

Topforce SF is ideal for large area concrete floors, industrial floor slabs or applications expecting high loads. It too can be designed to include micro polypropylene fibres to further reduce the risk of plastic shrinkage cracking.

Topforce SF has many application including, heavy duty flooring applications (internal & external), civil engineering applications, composite metal decks and jointless floors.


BBV Realignment Project

HS2

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Coastal Defence Scheme

Rhyl

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Flood Alleviation Scheme

Cardiff

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Case studies

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