Characteristics of Solitary Wave Breaking Induced by Breakwaters

Abstract

ABSTRACT:Laboratory experiments are presented for the breaking of solitary waves over breakwaters. A variety of behaviors is observed, depending on both breakwater and incident wave height: for emerged breakwaters, waves may collapse over the crown, or break backward during rundown; and for submerged breakwaters, waves may break forward or backward, downstream of the breakwater. The limit of overtopping and wave transmission and reflection coefficients are experimentally determined. It is seen that transmission is large over submerged breakwaters (55-90%), and may also reach 20-40% over emerged breakwaters. Computations using a fully nonlinear potential model agree well with experimental results for the submerged breakwaters, particularly for the smaller waves (Hid < 0.4). For emerged breakwaters, computations correctly predict the limit of overtopping, and the backward collapsing during rundown.

Numerical simulations of wave breaking

“…Due to their simplicity as compared to periodic waves, solitary waves have often been used for both model development and experimental validation. Grilli et al [12,13,[15][16][17], for instance, showed that the shape of shoaling and breaking solitary waves propagating over a step, a submerged trapezoidal obstacle, or a slope, could be simulated within a few percent of experimental measurements in a 2D-BEM-FNPF-NWT. Similar validations were repeated in 3D, e.g., by Grilli et al [11].…”

Numerical investigation of free surface elevation and celerity of solitary waves passing over submerged trapezoidal breakwaters

“…Free surface elevations are compared with those by Grilli et al [18] which are based on fully nonlinear potential flow equations. Computational domain is illustrated in Figure 3.…”

Interaction of Submerged Breakwater by a Solitary Wave Using WC-SPH Method

“…For further evaluation of SPH accuracy, the free surface profile, generated in solitary wave-breakwater interaction, is compared with experimental work of Grilli et al [33]. To perform this comparison, a computational domain is defined (Table 1).…”