Wave transformation over submerged permeable breakwater on porous bottom

A numerical model is presented in this study to investigate the wave transformation over a submerged permeable breakwater on a porous slope seabed. For this purpose, the time-dependent mild-slope equation is newly derived for waves propagating over two layers of porous medium. This new mild-slope equation involves the parameters of the porous medium, and it is a type of hyperbolic differential equation, therefore numerically efficient. The validity of the present model is verified based on the comparisons with the previous experiments. The effects of the permeable properties of both the porous seabed and the submerged permeable breakwater are discussed in detail. The geometry of the submerged permeable breakwater to the wave transformation is also investigated based on the numerical solutions.     

Wave reflection from vertical breakwater with porous structure

This paper presents numerical solutions for the wave reflection from submerged porous structures in front of the impermeable vertical breakwater. A new time-dependent mild-slope equation involves the parameters of the porous medium including the porosity, the friction factor and the inertia coefficient, etc. is derived for solving the boundary value problem. A comprehensive comparison between the present model and the existing analytical solution for the case of simple rectangular geometries of the submerged structure is performed first. Then, more complicated cases such as the inclined and trapezoidal submerged porous structures in front of the vertical breakwater with sloping bottom are considered. This study also examines the effects of the permeable properties and the geometric configurations of the porous structure to the wave reflection. It is found that the submerged porous structure with trapezoidal shape has more efficiency to reduce the wave reflection than that of triangular shape. The numerical results show that the minimum wave reflection is occurred when the breakwater is located at the intermediate water depth.     

Modelling linear wave transformation induced by dissipative structures—Regular waves

A numerical model of the modified time-independent mild-slope equation for linear waves over a rapidly changing finite porous bed is presented. In this solution the reflection and phase coefficient shift are solved implicitly. Boundaries are assumed to be open, partially reflecting, or fully absorbing through the second-order parabolic approximation. Discretisation of the governing equation and boundary conditions is by means of a second-order accurate central difference scheme. The resulting sparse-banded matrix is solved using an inexpensive banded solver with Gaussian elimination. The model has been validated and the numerical predictions are in excellent agreement with analytical solutions.     

Modelling linear wave transformation induced by dissipative structures—Random waves

The relevant theory is presented and numerical results are compared with the analytical solution for the interaction of non-breaking waves with an array of vertical porous circular cylinders on a horizontal bed. The extension to the cases of unidirectional and multidirectional waves is obtained by means of a transfer function. The influence of the mechanical properties of porous structures and wave irregularity on wave transformation is analysed. Results for unidirectional and multidirectional wave spectra are compared to those obtained for regular waves. The model presented reproduces well the analytical results and provides a tool for analysing several engineering problems.     

Numerical study for waves propagating over a porous seabed around a submerged permeable breakwater: PORO-WSSI II model

The phenomenon of the wave, seabed and structure interactions has attracted great attentions from coastal geotechnical engineers in recent years. Most previous investigations have based on individual approaches, which focused on either flow region or seabed domain. In this study, an integrated model (PORO-WSSI II), based on the Volume-Averaged/Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (VARANS) equations and Biot's poro-elastic theory, is developed to investigate the mechanism of the wave-permeable structure-porous seabed interactions. The new model is verified with the previous experimental data. Based on the present model, parametric studies have been carried out to investigate the influences of wave, soil and structure parameters on the wave-induced pore pressure. Numerical results indicated: (i) longer wave period and larger wave height will obviously induce a higher magnitude of pore pressure at the leading edge of a breakwater; (ii) after a full wave-structure interaction, the magnitude of pore pressure below the lee side of a breakwater decreases with an increasing structure porosity while it varies dramatically with a change of structure height; and (iii) the seabed thickness, soil permeability and the degree of saturation can also significantly affect the dynamic soil behaviour.     

An extended analytic solution for combined refraction and diffraction of long waves over circular shoals

A new analytic solution of the mild-slope long wave equation is derived for studying the effects of bottom topography on combined refraction and diffraction. The solution is essentially of a series form involving the Bessel functions of real orders but is found to be singular as the bottom tends to be parabolic. Numerical evaluation of the solution nearby the singularity requires some special considerations. The particular solution under the singular condition is also given. Study on combined refraction and diffraction for waves around a circular island on the top of a shoal, which is radially described by a power function with two independent parameters, indicates that there exist an extremely high wave zone near the top of a hyperparabolic shoal. It is also found that the intensity of wave ray focusing increases significantly as the mean slope decreases. A direct consequence of the wave ray focusing is the concentration of wave energy and an increase of the maximal wave runup height around the island.     

A parabolic equation extended to account for rapidly varying topography

In this paper, following the procedure outlined by Li (1994. An evolution equation for water waves. Coastal Engineering, 23, 227-242) and Hsu and Wen (2000. A study of using parabolic model to describe wave breaking and wide-angle wave incidence. Journal of the Chinese Institute of Engineers, 23(4), 515–527) and Hsu and Wen (2000) the extended refraction–diffraction equation is recasted into a time-dependent parabolic equation. This model, which includes higher-order bottom effect terms, is extended to account for a rapidly varying topography and wave energy dissipation in the surf zone. The importance of the higher-order bottom effect terms is examined in terms of the relative water depth. The present model was tested for wave reflection in a number of different environments, namely from a plane slope with different inclinations, from a patch of periodic ripples. The model was also tested for wave height distribution around a circular shoal and wave breaking on a barred beach. The comparison of predictions with other numerical models and experimental data show that the validity of the present model for describing wave propagation over a rapidly varying seabed is satisfactory.     

Wave interaction with cylindrical porous piles

The interaction of waves with arrays of porous circular cylinders is studied theoretically and, under the assumption of potential flow and linear wave theory, an analytical solution is derived. The solution is valid for either submerged or emerged structures. The extension to the cases of unidirectional and multidirectional waves is obtained by means of a transfer function. For specific conditions the model gives the same solution as those previously presented by other authors. Numerical results are presented which exemplify diverse wave and mechanical parameters on the wave transformation due to the presence of a system of circular cylinders.     

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

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.     

An analytic solution to the mild slope equation for waves propagating over an axi-symmetric pit

An analytic solution to the mild slope equation is derived for waves propagating over an axi-symmetric pit located in an otherwise constant depth region. The water depth inside the pit decreases in proportion to an integer power of radial distance from the pit center. The mild slope equation in cylindrical coordinates is transformed into ordinary differential equations by using the method of separation of variables, and the coefficients of the equation in radial direction are transformed into explicit forms by using the direct solution for the wave dispersion equation by Hunt (Hunt, J.N., 1979. Direct solution of wave dispersion equation. J. Waterw., Port, Coast., Ocean Div., Proc. ASCE, 105, 457–459). Finally, the Frobenius series is used to obtain the analytic solution. Due to the feature of the Hunt's solution, the present analytic solution is accurate in shallow and deep waters, while it is less accurate in intermediate depth waters. The validity of the analytic solution is demonstrated by comparison with numerical solutions of the hyperbolic mild slope equations. The analytic solution is also used to examine the effects of the pit geometry and relative depth on wave transformation. Finally, wave attenuation in the region over the pit is discussed.     

A three-point method for estimating wave reflection of obliquely incident waves over a sloping bottom

A three-point method for estimating wave reflection is proposed to account for monochromatic oblique incident waves propagating over a sloping beach. The amplitudes of reflected wave and incident wave are separated using wave amplitudes measured at three fixed wave gauges with a distance. The applicability of the theory is verified by comparing the simulated results with the available theoretical, numerical and experimental results for the estimation of wave reflection. The sensitivity is also tested to provide a more accurate prediction of the reflection coefficient.