Experimental Study on the Hydrodynamic Characteristics of a Convex-Type Floating Breakwater

Abstract

Floating breakwaters (FBs) are commonly employed for the protection of coastal installations. In this work, a convex-type floating breakwater (FB) is proposed, and its hydrodynamic characteristics are studied through systematic laboratory experiments. Two different deck widths and two different mooring systems are set in the experiment. The transmission coefficients, reflection coefficients, motion responses and mooring forces of convex-type FBs are obtained in experiments. The influences of the deck width and mooring system on the hydrodynamic characteristics of the proposed FB are analyzed and compared. The experimental results show that the reflection coefficient and mooring force of the convex-type FB with a cross-mooring system are significantly larger than those of the convex-type FB with a parallel-mooring system. A convex-type FB with a larger deck width has a higher reflection coefficient. The convex-type FBs with cross- and parallel- mooring systems have similar surge and heave motions, but the cross-mooring results in small roll motion. In addition, reliable prediction formulas for the transmission coefficient of convex-type FBs with different mooring systems have been developed, which are important for engineering design.