Damping Effect of Floating Breakwater

Abstract

The results of experimental studies are presented concerning the mechanism of attenuation of waves and the damping effect of the floating breakwater to which the system of phase difference is applied is shown. As the floating body rolls responding to the incident wave and simultaneously is forced by mooring ropes, so the phase difference between motion of the floating body and the incident waves occurs. Four basic shapes, inverse trapezoid, trapezoid, rectangle and triangle, are adopted for the cross section of floating breakwater. The models of floating body are moored to the bottom with the mooring ropes 2.5 times as long as the water depth. A moored floating breakwater with an inverse trapezoid in cross section highly susceptible to roll when freely floating has a high damping effect when the ratio of the natural rolling period of the floating breakwater to the wave period is unity.