A comparative study between some different types of permeable breakwaters according to wave energy dissipation

Abstract

This research investigates experimentally the effectiveness of different types of breakwaters as floating breakwaters (FB), low crested breakwaters (LCB), and piled breakwaters (PB). To examine the efficiency of the breakwaters, different models were tested under various wave and water depth conditions and by varying draught in floating models, crest freeboard in submerged models, spacing and arrangement in piled models. The results shows that the transmission coefficient decreases with increasing wave steepness and relative water depths for all breakwaters. For the FB, it decreases with increasing draught and the breakwaters’ width. But, for LCB, it decreases with increasing crest freeboard. And for PB, it decreases with increasing pile diameter, staggering of piles and adding strips suspended to the piles. Comparing the breakwaters states that FB with higher draught have likely the same efficiency as that of LCB. Suspended breakwaters have similar efficiency to that of FB with lower draught.