The pressure distribution beneath a solitary wave reflecting on a vertical wall

Abstract

Abstract In this paper we conducted laboratory experiment to study the spatial and temporal variation due to solitary wave collides with a vertical wall which is placed at right angle to the direction of propagation of the wave. Under various dimensionless amplitude ratios (H/h, initial wave amplitude over constant water depth), the bottom dynamic pressure, the maximum instantaneous force and the pressure on the vertical wall due to solitary wave reflecting from a vertical wall are analysed. It is interesting to note that at higher normalized amplitude (H/h>0.4), the dynamic wave pressure at the bottom and the force distribution on a vertical wall appear asymmetry double peaks, which is first shown by our experiment. From the statistical analysis, we can obtain an asymptotic formulation for the maximum instantaneous force which is proportional to the normalized amplitude ratio (H/h). Furthermore, these experimental result is used to compare with the available numerical model and theoretical solution and show a quantitative agreement.