|
|
|
|
Revetment
|
| |
|
| |
Revetments, or revêtements (the original French word, meaning something to re-cloth or re-cover), have a variety of meanings in architecture, engineering and art history. In river engineering or coastal defence, they are sloping structures placed on banks or cliffs in such a way as to absorb the energy of incoming water.
Discussion
Ask a question about 'Revetment' Start a new discussion about 'Revetment' Answer questions from other users |
Encyclopedia
Revetments, or revêtements (the original French word, meaning something to re-cloth or re-cover), have a variety of meanings in architecture, engineering and art history. In river engineering or coastal defence, they are sloping structures placed on banks or cliffs in such a way as to absorb the energy of incoming water. In military engineering they are structures, again sloped, formed to secure an area from artillery, bombing, or stored explosives. In architecture they are a variety of structures, normally vertical, used to retain a wall, or sometimes just to decorate it. River or coastal revetments are usually built to preserve the existing uses of the shoreline and to protect the slope, as defense against erosion. For other meanings see below.
Freshwater Revetments
Many revetments are used to line the banks of freshwater rivers, lakes, and man-made reservoirs, especially to prevent damage during periods of floods or heavy seasonal rains (see riprap). Many materials may be used: wooden piles, loose-piled boulders or concrete shapes, or more solid banks.
Fortifications
According to the U.S. National Park Service, and referring mostly to their employment in the American Civil War, a revetment is defined as a "retaining wall constructed to support the interior slope of a parapet. Made of logs, wood planks, fence rails, fascines, gabions, hurdles, sods, or stones, the revetment provided additional protection from enemy fire, and, most importantly, kept the interior slope nearly vertical. Stone revetments commonly survive. A few log revetments have been preserved due to high resin pine or cypress and porous sandy soils. After an entrenchment was abandoned, many log or rail revetments were scavenged for other uses, causing the interior slope to slump more quickly. An interior slope will appear more vertical if the parapet eroded with the revetment still in place."
Architecture and art history
Revetment can be used as a term for a retaining wall, or just for the covering of a wall. In particular the term is used for stone slabs or decorated ceramic plaques used as the outer facing layer of a wall, especially in Ancient Roman architecture. These may or may not have a structural function in the internal construction of the wall, and may be essentially decorative. Marble or terracotta was used, the latter often decorated in moulded reliefs. Revetment is also a term used for a riza or decorated metal cover for most of an Eastern Orthodox icon.
External links
Fortifications
River and Levee Management
|
| |
|
|
