Abstract
Plunging breaker slamming pressures on vertical or sloping sea dikes are one of the most severe and dangerous loads that sea dike structures can suffer. Many studies have investigated the impact forces caused by breaking waves for maritime structures including sea dikes and most predictions of the breaker forces are based on empirical or semi-empirical formulae calibrated from laboratory experiments. However, the wave breaking mechanism is complex and more research efforts are still needed to improve the accuracy in predicting breaker forces. This study proposes a semi-empirical formula, which is based on impulse–momentum relation, to calculate the slamming pressure due to plunging wave breaking on a sloping sea dike. Compared with some measured slamming pressure data in two literature, the calculation results by the new formula show reasonable agreements. Also, by analysing probability distribution function of wave heights, the proposed formula can be converted into a probabilistic expression form for convenience only.
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