Dolosse – a South African invention used over the world

(thisbugslife.com)

33 points | by andsoitis 2 days ago

4 comments

  • mk_stjames 6 minutes ago
    Interestingly the author shows a photo of a spot in Cape Town where there are two distinct structures in use - close up, in the photo, are actually Tetrapods - as pointed out in other comments, these are an earlier invention from France and also used quite extensively throughout many parts of the world (including... right here when the Dolosse were invented).

    Further down that jetty are structures with the actual Dolos geometry. It would be interesting to know if, specifically, those geometries were chosen specifically to be placed in those two parts of the wall as they are for specific properties, or if came down to having certain quantities made on hand and their distributions matched the shape of the wall required, or what.

    You can see what I mean, this distinction in the exact location where that photo is taken on google maps, here:

    https://maps.app.goo.gl/Vn3tGhM81oMqPVpm9

    -33.899126, 18.412751 Mouille Point, Cape Town, 8005, South Africa

  • duggan 1 hour ago
    Interesting. Been to South Africa a bunch but never clocked that they were different from the more common antecedent, the tetrapod[1].

    1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrapod_(structure)

  • walski 1 hour ago
    In Germany (on the island Sylt) they recently removed all of these structures again after decades of them being a staple on Sylt's beaches. They were found to have no positive effect on protecting their shores.

    I'm having a hard time to find a good source to quote but look for: "sylt tetrapoden" if you want to dive deeper.

    • walski 1 hour ago
      Ok I stand corrected these are NOT tetrapods. Sorry for the confusion
      • gilleain 55 minutes ago
        Well, confusingly, the last picture on the blogpost look (to my untrained eye) to be tetrapods. Those are 'tetrahedral' (ish) shapes.

        In contrast, the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolos (plural 'Dolosse') are two tapering cylinders at right angles to each other. They have the same symmetry, but a different structure. Does that make any difference to how effective they are? No idea!

        edit: When I said the "same symmetry" of course I should have said the dolos has some of the symmetries of the tetrapod (subgroup?).