2. Embankment dikes

2.1 General

Dikes are built using materials of varying degrees of coarseness, arranged in the shape of a trapezoid, which will resist the progression of the swell all the more effectively the higher and less porous the mass.

The residual or recreated swell behind the structure will be composed of :

• of the swell transmitted through the structure;

• of the swell that will pass over the structure, either by overtopping it, or by seawater bursting from a height of several tens of meters, which, pushed by the wind, will fall back behind the structure.