NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH NCHRP PROGRAM REPORT 568 Riprap Design Criteria, Recommended Specifications, and Quality Control TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD 2006 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE* OFFICERS CHAIR: Michael D. Meyer, Professor, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta VICE CHAIR: Linda S. Watson, Executive Director, LYNX—Central Florida Regional Transportation Authority, Orlando EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Robert E. Skinner, Jr., Transportation Research Board MEMBERS Michael W. Behrens, Executive Director, Texas DOT, Austin Allen D. Biehler, Secretary, Pennsylvania DOT, Harrisburg John D. Bowe, Regional President, APL Americas, Oakland, CA Larry L. Brown, Sr., Executive Director, Mississippi DOT, Jackson Deborah H. Butler, Vice President, Customer Service, Norfolk Southern Corporation and Subsidiaries, Atlanta, GA Anne P. Canby, President, Surface Transportation Policy Project, Washington, DC Douglas G. Duncan, President and CEO, FedEx Freight, Memphis, TN Nicholas J. Garber, Henry L. Kinnier Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville Angela Gittens, Vice President, Airport Business Services, HNTB Corporation, Miami, FL Genevieve Giuliano, Professor and Senior Associate Dean of Research and Technology, School of Policy, Planning, and Development, and Director, METRANS National Center for Metropolitan Transportation Research, University of Southern California, Los Angeles Susan Hanson, Landry University Professor of Geography, Graduate School of Geography, Clark University, Worcester, MA James R. Hertwig, President, CSX Intermodal, Jacksonville, FL Gloria J. Jeff, General Manager, City of Los Angeles DOT, Los Angeles, CA Adib K. Kanafani, Cahill Professor of Civil Engineering, University of California, Berkeley Harold E. Linnenkohl, Commissioner, Georgia DOT, Atlanta Sue McNeil, Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark Debra L. Miller, Secretary, Kansas DOT, Topeka Michael R. Morris, Director of Transportation, North Central Texas Council of Governments, Arlington Carol A. Murray, Commissioner, New Hampshire DOT, Concord John R. Njord, Executive Director, Utah DOT, Salt Lake City Pete K. Rahn, Director, Missouri DOT, Jefferson City Sandra Rosenbloom, Professor of Planning, University of Arizona, Tucson Henry Gerard Schwartz, Jr., Senior Professor, Washington University, St. Louis, MO Michael S. Townes, President and CEO, Hampton Roads Transit, Hampton, VA C. Michael Walton, Ernest H. Cockrell Centennial Chair in Engineering, University of Texas, Austin EX OFFICIO MEMBERS Thad Allen (Adm., U.S. Coast Guard), Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard, Washington, DC Thomas J. Barrett (Vice Adm., U.S. Coast Guard, ret.), Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administrator, U.S.DOT Marion C. Blakey, Federal Aviation Administrator, U.S.DOT Joseph H. Boardman, Federal Railroad Administrator, U.S.DOT John Bobo, Deputy Administrator, Research and Innovative Technology Administration, U.S.DOT Rebecca M. Brewster, President and COO, American Transportation Research Institute, Smyrna, GA George Bugliarello, Chancellor, Polytechnic University of New York, Brooklyn, and Foreign Secretary, National Academy of Engineering, Washington, DC J. Richard Capka, Federal Highway Administrator, U.S.DOT Sean T. Connaughton, Maritime Administrator, U.S.DOT Edward R. Hamberger, President and CEO, Association of American Railroads, Washington, DC John H. Hill, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administrator, U.S.DOT John C. Horsley, Executive Director, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, Washington, DC J. Edward Johnson, Director, Applied Science Directorate, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, John C. Stennis Space Center, MS William W. Millar, President, American Public Transportation Association, Washington, DC Nicole R. Nason, National Highway Traffic Safety Administrator, U.S.DOT Jeffrey N. Shane, Under Secretary for Policy, U.S.DOT James S. Simpson, Federal Transit Administrator, U.S.DOT Carl A. Strock (Maj. Gen., U.S. Army), Chief of Engineers and Commanding General, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Washington, DC *Membership as of September 2006. NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM NCHRP REPORT 568 Riprap Design Criteria, Recommended Specifications, and Quality Control P. F. Lagasse P. E. Clopper L. W. Zevenbergen J. F. Ruff AYRES ASSOCIATES INC. Fort Collins, CO Subject Areas Design • Materials, Construction, Maintenance Research sponsored by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD WASHINGTON, D.C. 2006 www.TRB.org NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY NCHRP REPORT 568 RESEARCH PROGRAM Systematic, well-designed research provides the most effective Price $45.00 approach to the solution of many problems facing highway Project 24-23 administrators and engineers. Often, highway problems are of local ISSN 0077-5614 interest and can best be studied by highway departments individually ISBN-13: 978-0-309-09866-3 or in cooperation with their state universities and others. However, the ISBN-10: 0-309-09866-1 accelerating growth of highway transportation develops increasingly Library of Congress Control Number 2006935524 complex problems of wide interest to highway authorities. These © 2006 Transportation Research Board problems are best studied through a coordinated program of cooperative research. In recognition of these needs, the highway administrators of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials COPYRIGHT PERMISSION initiated in 1962 an objective national highway research program Authors herein are responsible for the authenticity of their materials and for obtaining written permissions from publishers or persons who own the copyright to any previously employing modern scientific techniques. This program is supported on published or copyrighted material used herein. a continuing basis by funds from participating member states of the Cooperative Research Programs (CRP) grants permission to reproduce material in this Association and it receives the full cooperation and support of the publication for classroom and not-for-profit purposes. Permission is given with the Federal Highway Administration, United States Department of understanding that none of the material will be used to imply TRB, AASHTO, FAA, FHWA, Transportation. FMCSA, FTA, or Transit Development Corporation endorsement of a particular product, method, or practice. It is expected that those reproducing the material in this document for The Transportation Research Board of the National Academies was educational and not-for-profit uses will give appropriate acknowledgment of the source of requested by the Association to administer the research program any reprinted or reproduced material. For other uses of the material, request permission because of the Board’s recognized objectivity and understanding of from CRP. modern research practices. The Board is uniquely suited for this purpose as it maintains an extensive committee structure from which authorities on any highway transportation subject may be drawn; it NOTICE possesses avenues of communications and cooperation with federal, The project that is the subject of this report was a part of the National Cooperative Highway state and local governmental agencies, universities, and industry; its Research Program conducted by the Transportation Research Board with the approval of the Governing Board of the National Research Council. Such approval reflects the relationship to the National Research Council is an insurance of Governing Board’s judgment that the program concerned is of national importance and objectivity; it maintains a full-time research correlation staff of appropriate with respect to both the purposes and resources of the National Research specialists in highway transportation matters to bring the findings of Council. research directly to those who are in a position to use them. The members of the technical committee selected to monitor this project and to review this The program is developed on the basis of research needs identified report were chosen for recognized scholarly competence and with due consideration for the balance of disciplines appropriate to the project. The opinions and conclusions expressed by chief administrators of the highway and transportation departments or implied are those of the research agency that performed the research, and, while they have and by committees of AASHTO. Each year, specific areas of research been accepted as appropriate by the technical committee, they are not necessarily those of needs to be included in the program are proposed to the National the Transportation Research Board, the National Research Council, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, or the Federal Highway Research Council and the Board by the American Association of State Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation. Highway and Transportation Officials. Research projects to fulfill these Each report is reviewed and accepted for publication by the technical committee according needs are defined by the Board, and qualified research agencies are to procedures established and monitored by the Transportation Research Board Executive selected from those that have submitted proposals. Administration and Committee and the Governing Board of the National Research Council. surveillance of research