R3CPO

Rising seas, more frequent storms, and marine heatwaves increasingly threaten civilian and Department of Defense (DoD) infrastructure and personnel along our coastlines. In 2026, the R3D consortium successfully deployed a full-scale prototype of a living breakwater designed to protect coastlines and accelerate the growth of reef-building organisms. The ARL — in collaboration with industry partners and two laboratories within the UH School of Ocean and Earth Sciences and Technology — is now redesigning the structures for 3D concrete printing (3DCP) in order to reduce manufacturing and deployment costs and advance the technology toward commercialization. This project is sponsored by the Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP) under award # W912HQ26CA018.

R3CPO

The Rapid Resilient Reefs Concrete Printing Optimization (R3CPO) project builds on the success of the R3D project by redesigning and optimizing the structures for manufacturing via concrete 3D printing (3DCP). The use of 3DCP allows the team to organically integrate ecologically conscious designs that promote the rapid growth of coral and other reef-building organisms into the wave-attenuating structures. Importantly, 3DCP also removes the need for expensive forms, enables near-site manufacturing in remote locations without precast facilities, and allows unit-by-unit customization of breakwater modules to maximize array effectiveness on an uneven seabed. These capabilities have the potential to reduce manufacturing and deployment costs making this nature-based solution even more economically competitive with traditional breakwater approaches.
The project has five goals:

1. Maintain the wave attenuation and structural loading characteristics of the R3D structures.
2. Ensure ecologically conscious designs have sufficient detail and resolution.
3. Confirm that 3DCP material is compatible with coral growth.
4. Demonstrate on-site fabrication of a hybrid reef structure using 3DCP.
5. Deploy a 3DCP structure at the Kalaeloa Hybrid Reef living laboratory.

Collaborating Partners

Makai Ocean Engineering
Icon Technology Inc

Participating Labs

Ocean Research Projects

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