Simulation of breaking waves on slope beaches integrating the MPS method into Iwagaki wave theory

Abstract

Breaking waves are a natural phenomenon that can affect infrastructure located near the coast and cause soil erosion problems as well. For this reason, it has been investigated through experiments and numerical simulations for decades. With the advancement of new numerical approaches such as the moving particle semi-implicit (MPS) method that allows a better modeling of the fragmentation process, it is possible now to adequately represent its complex behavior on breaking waves. In this work we apply the MPS method to simulate breaking waves in a slope beach, which is simulated as a two-dimensional numerical tank, where cnoidal waves are generated by using Iwagaki wave theory. To achieve numerical wave generation, we first used an approximation through linear wave theory using piston, flap and a hyperbolic wavemakers with a 1.25-s wave period. Then, a numerical tank was modeled using nonlinear wave theory to simulate a series of different wave periods. Our results show that through the MPS method it is possible to represent the type of wave breaking defined analytically, as well as to determine the predicted wave profile and the momentum for the breaking wave, in the same way wave velocity and pressure under the wave can be approximated to their theoretical values.