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![]() Surface Armor for Erosion Protection 
7.1.2.2 Advantages 
A trenchfill revetment allows stabilization along a predetermined alignment, and is 
often simpler to design and construct than a revetment placed on the active stream bank. 
7.1.2.3 Disadvantages 
Trenchfill allows erosion to continue unabated until the stream reaches it, and its 
construction requires heavy equipment. Large areas of rights-of-way are usually required. 
7.1.2.4 Typical Application 
Trenchfill's most powerful use is in the following circumstances: 
Where a smooth alignment of the stabilized channel is required (usually to 
meet navigation criteria); and 
Where rapid erosion rates, high velocities, large depths of flow, or rapid 
fluctuations in river stages make construction within the stream channel very 
difficult. 
Trenchfill has been extremely useful where these conditions exist on the Arkansas, 
Red, Missouri, and Mississippi Rivers. The key to successful performance is a relatively 
uniform rate of launching at any given point, although uniformity of bank recession along its 
length is not a prerequisite to successful performance. Therefore, it is most successful when 
bank materials are predominantly noncohesive. Otherwise, additional stone may be necessary, 
either during construction or in later reinforcement operations, to compensate for inefficient 
launching where the underlying bank material fails by slab or rotational slips. 
7.1.2.5 Design Considerations 
Special design considerations are as follows: 
The required thickness of the stone armor on the upper bank slope can be computed 
according to Appendix A or can be based on successful experience under similar conditions. 
Stone gradation can likewise either be computed according to the guidance provided 
in Appendix A, or based on successful experience in similar applications. A gradation which 
has a significant amount of fine stony material has been shown by experience to be effective 
in many cases without a filter or underlayment, because the fines fill the voids between the 
larger stones, while still allowing the armor layer to retain adequate permeability.  Such 
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