WAVE TRANSMISSION THROUGH A DOUBLE-ROW PILE BREAKWATER

Abstract

Several previous investigators have conducted experiments leading to expressions for predicting the transformation of waves passing through closely-spaced pile or large cylinder breakwaters. The present study extends the earlier experiments which used a single row of piles instead of a double row of piles forming a breakwater. The experiments using the double-pile breakwater were performed in the same facility as the experiments conducted on a single-pile breakwater and employed the same method of analysis for a more meaningful comparison. The experiments consisted of allowing waves to pass through a pile array and measuring the incident and transmitted wave heights. The variables were: depth, period, diameter, monochromatic and random waves. The experimental matrix was three water depths, four wave periods, two pile diameters, two gap dimensions between piles and four random wave spectra: Darbyshire, I.T.T.C., Pierson- Moskowitz and JONSWAP, two pile diameters and two gap dimensions between piles. The two-row breakwater had less wave transmission than the single-row breakwater, as expected. For a gap to a pile diameter ratio, or b/D = 0.2 (where b = gap spacing, D - pile diameter), the wave transmission was reduced by 15 percent, as compared with a single-row breakwater; for a gap ratio of b/D - 0.1, the wave transmission was reduced by 5 to 10 percent.