Plain-language field reference
Seawall Glossary
Terms help you communicate. They do not replace the plans, definitions or regulations that apply to a specific project.
A
- Anchor
- A buried or driven element that helps resist movement of an anchored wall.
B
- Backfill
- Soil or aggregate placed behind a seawall or retaining structure.
- Batter
- Intentional inclination of a wall or pile from vertical.
- Bulkhead
- A waterfront structure whose primary function is often retaining shoreline soil.
C
- Cap
- The top member that may connect wall elements, distribute load and provide a finished edge.
- Cathodic protection
- A corrosion-control method used for eligible metal systems.
- Coastal Construction Control Line
- A Florida regulatory line landward of which certain coastal construction may be subject to state review; site location and current rules must be verified.
D
- Deadman
- A buried anchoring element connected to a wall by a tie rod.
E
- Embedment
- The depth a wall, sheet or pile extends below the visible soil or bed.
- Environmental Resource Permit
- Florida's permit program covering activities affecting water resources, including certain work in wetlands and surface waters.
F
- Fetch
- The unobstructed distance over water across which wind can generate waves.
- Filter fabric
- Geotextile intended to retain soil while allowing controlled water movement.
- Flanking
- Erosion or water movement around the end of a shoreline protection structure.
- Freeboard
- Vertical distance between a design water level and the top of a structure.
I
- Interlock
- The connected edge between adjacent sheet-pile sections.
J
- Joint
- A connection or separation between wall elements that may accommodate construction or movement.
L
- Living shoreline
- A stabilization approach using predominantly natural elements, sometimes with limited harder components.
M
- Mean high water
- A defined tidal datum and legal reference; it is not simply the visible wet line at one moment.
O
- Overtopping
- Water passing over the top of a wall due to elevated water or wave runup.
P
- Pile
- A driven or installed slender structural element that transfers load into the ground.
R
- Revetment
- Sloped armor, often rock, used to protect a bank or shoreline and dissipate energy.
- Riprap
- Durable, typically angular stone sized and placed as erosion or scour protection.
S
- Scour
- Removal of bed or bank material by moving water, often concentrated at toes, ends or obstructions.
- Seawall
- A shoreline structure intended to retain land and resist water or wave action.
- Sheet piling
- Interlocking structural sheets driven or installed to form a continuous wall.
- Spall
- A fragment or area of concrete that has broken away, sometimes because reinforcement is corroding.
- Storm surge
- Abnormal rise of water generated by a storm above the predicted astronomical tide.
- Surcharge
- An added load on retained soil, such as a vehicle, structure, fill or stored material.
T
- Tie rod
- A tension member connecting a wall to an anchor or deadman.
- Toe
- The lower edge or embedded base area of a wall or revetment.
- Turbidity control
- Measures used to limit movement of suspended sediment during work in or near water.
W
- Wale
- A horizontal structural member that distributes load across wall elements or anchor points.
- Washout
- Loss of soil caused by flowing water through, under or around a structure.
- Weep
- A designed path that allows water to drain through or around a retaining system while soil is filtered.
V
- Void
- An empty or loosened space within soil, often hidden until the surface settles or collapses.