Wave motion over a submerged breakwater with an upper horizontal porous plate and a lower horizontal solid plate

Abstract

This study examines the hydrodynamic performance of a modified two-layer horizontal-plate breakwater. The breakwater consists of an upper submerged horizontal porous plate and a lower submerged horizontal solid plate. By means of the matched eigenfunction expansion method, a linear analytical solution is developed for the interaction of water waves with the structure. Then the reflection coefficient, the transmission coefficient, the energy-loss coefficient and the wave forces acting on the plates are calculated. The numerical results obtained for limiting cases are exactly the same as previous predictions for a single submerged horizontal solid plate and a single submerged horizontal porous plate. Numerical results show that with a suitable geometrical porosity of the upper plate, the uplift wave forces on both plates can be controlled at a low level. Numerical results also show that the transmission coefficient will be always small if the dimensionless plate length (plate length versus incident wavelength) exceeds a certain moderate value. This is rather significant for practical engineering, as the incident wavelength varies over a wide range in practice. Moreover, it is found that the hydrodynamic performance of the present structure may be further enhanced if the lower plate is also perforated.