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Wave Loadings acting on an innovative breakwater for energy production

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 Journalof
Journal ofCoastal
CoastalResearch
Research SI 64 608
pg -- pg
612 ICS2011 (Proceedings)
ICS2011 Poland ISSN 0749-0208

Wave Loadings acting on an innovative breakwater for energy

production
D. Vicinanza†, F. Ciardulli‡, M. Buccino‡, M. Calabrese‡ and J.P. Koefed∞

†Second University of ‡ University of Naples “Federico II”, ∞ Aalborg University, Aalborg , DK-9000,
Aversa, 80131, Italy Naples, 80125, Italy, Denmark, jpk@civil.aau.dk
diegovic@unina.it francesco.ciardulli@unina.it,
buccino@unina.it, calabres@unina.it

ABSTRACT

Vicinanza, D., Ciardulli, F., Buccino, M., Calabrese, M. and Kofoed, J.P., 2011. Wave loadings acting on an
innovative breakwater for energy production. Journal of Coastal Research, SI 64 (Proceedings of the 11th
International Coastal Symposium),  – . Szczecin, Poland, ISSN 0749-0208

The paper reports on 2D small scale experiments conducted to investigate wave loadings acting on a pilot project
of device for the conversion of wave energy into electricity. The conversion concept is based on the overtopping
principle and the structure is worldwide known with the acronym SSG. The hydraulic model tests have been
carried out at the LInC laboratory of the University of Naples Federico II using random waves. Results indicate
wave overtopping is able to cause a sudden inversion of vertical force under wave crest, so that it is alternatively
upward and downward directed over a short time interval. It is also shown that two calculation methods widely
employed in the Japanese design practice of vertical face breakwaters, namely Goda (1975) and Hiroi (1919),
could be used to achieve safe estimates of the hydrodynamic loadings

ADDITIONAL INDEX WORDS: seawave slot-cone generator, wave energy, wave forces, wave pressures.

INTRODUCTION to serve as a guidance for the structural design of a pilot project to

Within the general growing trend of the renewable energy, the be built in Svåheia (Stavanger, Norway).
wave energy is experiencing, in particular, a fruitful period. 2D laboratory tests were carried out at the University of Naples
Improvement of technologies and space for new ideas, together “Federico II” as a part of the project PRIST 2007 (Progetti di
with financial support, is leading the research to gamble on Ricerca di Rilevante Interesse Scientifico e Tecnologico) funded
different concepts and develop a number of new devices. by the Second University of Naples and coordinated by the first
Any kind of Wave Energy Converter (hereafter WEC) requires author (http://www.italywavenergy.it/).
information on how optimize the device in terms of hydraulic
performance and structural response. This paper presents results LABORATORY STUDIES
on an innovative caisson breakwater for electricity production:
Seawave Slot-Cone Generator (hereafter SSG). The concept was
developed by WAVEenergy AS (http://waveenergy.no/),
Experimental set-up
The experiments have been conducted at the small scale channel
Stavanger (Norway) since April 2004 (Vicinanza and Frigaard,
(SSC) of the Department of Hydraulic, Geotechnical and
2008; Margheritini et al., 2009) and it is based on the known
Environmental Engineering (DIGA) of the University of Naples
principle of overtopping and storing the wave energy in several
“Federico II”. The flume is 22m long, 0.5m wide and 0.75m
reservoirs placed one above the other. Using this method
height and is equipped with a piston type wave-maker, capable of
practically all waves, regardless of size and speed are captured for
generating both periodic and random wave series. The facility is
energy production. In the present SSG setup two reservoirs have
also provided with an active absorption system that lowers any
been used.
undesired reflection effects. The SSG device and the seaward part
A key to success for the SSG will be low cost of the structure.
of the bathymetry were both re-constructed in the flume, at a 66
Unlike traditional harbour defences, WEC devices need by nature
length scale, using plexiglass elements. The foreshore (Figure 1)
to be exposed to large wave forces and are generally designed to
included a 1:5 approaching slope followed by a double ramp (1:1
face and challenge the sea as much as possible. Vicinanza and
and 1:2.5 respectively). Then a flat floor allowed the placement of
Frigaard (2008) suggest that the design criteria of traditional
the structure, which was 0.48m wide.
maritime structures may be not satisfactory for designing
Preliminary tests revealed the structure to experience violent
innovative breakwater as SSGs.
overtopping during the design storm. Hence, due to the relevant
The purpose of the work is to derive information on wave
length of the experiments, a significant amount of water
loadings acting on the structure. The research is intended to be of
accumulated rear the model, leading to an unrealistic setup of the
direct use to engineers analyzing design and stability of this
mean sea level. For this reason, a recirculation system was
peculiar kind of coastal structure. The experiments were thought
designed.

Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue 64, 2011

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 Innovative breakwater for energy production

A reservoir placed 4.00m off the inner toe of the structure

collected the overtopped water, which was conveyed the back to
the rear of the wave-maker, by means of an electric pump.
In the space between the rear of the model and the reservoir, a
mound made of cobblestones was built, in order to both absorbing
the wave reflection and lowering the water fluctuation above the
outer plate of the reservoir.

Testing and Measurements

Five sea states driven by “JONSWAP” spectra with a 3.3 shape
parameter have been run. Table 1 summarizes the target wave
conditions. The still water level at the paddle was fixed at 0.5m for
all the tests (33m at the prototype scale). Each sea state has been
run for approximately 2000 waves, to ensure the reliability of the
low exceedance statistics. Figure 1. Sketch of bottom topography and structure placement.
Table 1:Synthesis of target wave characteristi Dimensions are in mm.
Test Code Hs [cm] Ts [s]
TEST 1 0.136 1.858
TEST 2 0.144 1.895
TEST 3 0.151 1.957
TEST 4 0.159 1.957
TEST 5 0.166 1.957

The oscillations of free surface have been recorded by four

twin-wire resistive probes sampled at 100Hz. Three of them were
placed on the flat bottom, prior the 1:5 slope, to resolve wave
reflection; a fourth gauge have been located approximately in the
middle of the 1:5 foreshore.
For measuring wave forces, an ad hoc device has been
constructed at the DIGA Department of University of Naples
“Federico II”. The balance consisted of a measuring beam
connected to three load cells (maximum load 150kg) by means of
steel bounds. The cells were fixed at a rigid frame that connected
the device to the side walls of the channel. The upper cell
measured the vertical force, whereas the two underlying cells
measured the resulting horizontal force as well as the torque in the
plane of motion. During the calibration phase, the cells resulted to
function properly with a standard error of about 10-2kg. An ad hoc
excitation analysis has been conducted to investigate the
frequency response of the system. The device resulted to be linear
within 70Hz; accordingly, it has been sampled at 100Hz.
For measuring wave pressures, four small sized cells, with a
18mm diameter, have been used. The latter have been moved,
repeating the same wave attack, to cover 21 positions along the
outer geometry of the SSG (Figure 2). To follow impact events
that possibly occur at the structure front face, the cells have been
sampled at 1000Hz. Wave pressures have been acquired only for
TEST 3. It is worth to remark that in all measurements the mouth
of the SSG reservoir were kept closed; this to avoid an improper
inflow-outflow mechanism to affect the time history of forces and
pressures.
Acquisition and analysis technique
The incoming wave field at the flat floor seaward the foreshore,
have been separated from the reflected by using the weighted least
squared method proposed by Zelt & Skjelbreia (1992). As the
method essentially relies on a linear approach, the original time
series have been previously cut in the frequency domain. The cut
have been applied to frequencies external to the band 0.25 – 1Hz,
which roughly corresponds to the interval between 0.5 – 2 times
the incoming peak frequency. From this analysis the incident and
reflected time series have been obtained. The latter have been
Figure 2. Scheme of pressure gauges positions.
further analyzed to obtain incident and reflected wave spectra. For
the spectral estimation, the method proposed by Welch (1967) has
been used. In the calculation a base segment of 10s has been
employed, corresponding to a 0.1Hz frequency resolution.
Different base segments have been overlapped at a degree of 50%.
To reduce leakage effects, a standard Hanning window has been
applied. With this approach incident and reflected wave spectra
have been estimated for each test.
Time domain statistics of wave loads and pressures have been
obtained through a zero up-crossing analysis. The latter has been
conducted using the approach proposed by Hamm & Peronnard
(1997), which includes a time domain filter based on two
thresholds, namely Tmin v and Tmin d . If three successive zero
crossing are observed over a time interval less than Tmin v, the first
two passages through zeros are eliminated; otherwise if two
successive zero crossings occur over a period of time less than
Tmin d, they are both eliminated. In the present analysis the
standard values 0.4 and 0.08 have been used respectively for Tmin v
and Tmin d .
RESULTS
Wave loads and general features of force signals
Simulated wave attacks mostly generated collapsing/surging
breakers with bubbled toes. The onset of breaking took place on
the foreshore and, after reaching the structure, a huge amount of
water overtopped the device (Photo 1). For these cases it has long
been recognized the time history of induced forces to be relatively
slow-varying (quasi-static or pulsating loads, Vicinanza and
Frigaard, 2008).

Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue 64, 2011

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 Vicinanza et al.

Photo 1. Sequence of breaking

From the graph we see Fh to fluctuate the same as the free

3.00
surface; accordingly the periods in the time domain are very
Wave signal
2.50 similar for these signals. It is clear that the dynamic response to
Fh signal
2.00 the wave input is weakly non-linear: in fact, the chronogram of the
1.50
force exhibits sometime a double hump that is due to both non-
linear effects and wave breaking. The particular nature of surging
1.00
breakers, which is actually rather close to a standing wave, makes
0.50 those peaks of the same magnitude and symmetrical. However,
0.00 where the strength of breaking increases they become of different
intensity, being the first one relatively larger than the second one.
-0.50
Note that the average of Fh has resulted always not negligible and
-1.00 in-shore directed, so that the trough loads are of the order of 10%
-1.50 the maximum force.
-2.00
The vertical component, Fv, follows a more complicated path,
11.0 11.5 12.0 12.5 13.0 13.5 14.0 14.5 15.0 15.5 16.0 16.5 17.0 which deserves some more discussion. As starting point, we know
t [s] the vertical component of the wave action can be divided into two
parts and namely a part coming from the font face (Fv,front) and a
Figure 3. Horizontal force signal compared to the incident wave part coming from the pressures acting at the bottom and at the top
fluctuation. of the structure (Fv,b-t). The former can be tentatively estimated by
setting:

8.00
Fv , front = − Fh ⋅ ctgα (1)
Fv,b-t and accordingly Fv,b-t can be obtained subtracting it from the
6.00
Fv-font overall signal.
Figure 4 gives an example of the time domain fluctuation of
4.00
these two components, which are obviously phase shifted of
nearly π. Note the signals are again standardized. As obvious,
2.00
Fv,front is the simple mirror of Fh ; on contrary, Fv,b-t often shows a
“swallow-tail” trend. Compared to the horizontal force, the humps
0.00
are now well defined and separated by a deep trough in the
middle. We see the peaks to be roughly in phase with the hump of
the horizontal force and accordingly they realistically come from
-2.00
the wave breaking non linear effects above discussed. From the
left part of the Figure 4, we also note that when the humps are not
-4.00
13.0 13.5 14.0 14.5 15.0 15.5 16.0 16.5 17.0
present in Fh, and then in Fv,front, they disappear also in Fv,b-t. Now,
t [s] the deep trough is likely due to the pressures related to the water
that overcomes the roof of the SSG; in fact from the analysis of
Figure 4. Time domain fluctuation of Fv,b-t and Fv,front. the pressure signals it seemed the overtopping events to produce
time histories with a narrow crest, which may explain the presence
On the other hand some sporadic plunging breakers were of the secondary valley.
detected; the latter might potentially induce impulsive loadings As a result of the superimposition of these components, the F v
extremely severe, but the overtopping occurrence made them process has the shape of the Figure 5. Note here the signal is not
significantly lower. standardized. We see two crests and two valleys within a single
Figure 3 shows an example of the horizontal force signal (Fh wave cycle; consequently, the signal has three zero up-crossings,
hereafter); it is standardized, subtracting mean and dividing by of which only two are physically consistent (the first and the last).
standard deviation, and compared with the incident wave This feature has to be considered in the time domain analysis to
fluctuation at the flat bottom of the flume. avoid computing a number of load cycles much larger than the

Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue 64, 2011

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 Innovative breakwater for energy production

number of wave cycles, with the result of underpredicting. the Figure 5 also indicates the highest peak and the lowest trough of
extreme statistics of forces. Fv in a zero crossing wave have the same order of magnitude. This
matter may be of interest for engineering purposes, as the
30.0 maximum up-ward directed force affects the safety of the structure
Kg Fv signal with respect to the sliding (and overturning), whereas the down-
20.0 ward vertical force may be relevant for the analysis of the soil
wave cycle
resistance.
10.0
The pattern of the vertical force signal dominates that of the
torque relative to the inner-toe of the structure. Figure 6 clearly
0.0
indicates these chronograms are nearly in phase. Hence, the
problem of apparent waves generated by the multiple contribution
-10.0
to the total torque must be considered as well; moreover crest-
trough symmetry of Fv seems to repeat analogously in the torque
signal. However, under the wave trough the structure tends to
-20.0
overturn around its outer-toe; in this respect, the high magnitude
of the down-ward vertical force, which counteracts the effect of
-30.0
13.0 13.5 14.0 14.5 15.0 15.5 16.0 16.5 t [s] 17.0
the torque, renders the problem of the overturning much less
relevant.
Altogether we find the usual situation where the structure fails
Figure 5. Time domain fluctuation of the total vertical force.
under the wave crest, when the horizontal component of loadings
pushes the wall landward and, at the same time, the vertical force
6.00
attains an upward maximum that makes the device lighter. It is
Fv signal known this leads either sliding and or overturning around the inner
5.00 M signal toe. However two supplementary items have to be emphasized.
From the one side the vertical component of the front force
4.00
reduces, obviously, the effect of bottom under-pressures; this
3.00 lowering occurs uniformly across the entire wave crest. From the
other side, the overtopping occurrence would produce a sudden
2.00
valley in the Fv process, with the result that the critical
1.00 combination of loadings (landward Fh plus upward Fv) has a
duration relatively short and repeat twice. With this respect, the
0.00
hypothesis of considering the structural response of SSG within a
-1.00
dynamic frame might be considered.
As a further matter of interest, the large down-ward vertical
-2.00 force shown in Figure 5, should be accounted when the problem of
13.0 13.5 14.0 14.5 15.0 15.5 16.0 16.5 t [s] 17.0
safety of foundation is addressed.
Figure 6. Vertical force signal compared to torque signal
Estimating loadings under wave crest
In a first attempt of calculating the magnitude of extreme load
Table 2:Horizontal forces calculated by Goda and Hiroi model. statistics under wave crest, the well known Goda model (1985)
Test Code Fh,meas Fh,Goda SFGoda Fh,Hiroi SFHiroi has been considered. The latter is originally valid for vertical face
TEST 1 25.86 44.34 1.71 52.80 2.04 breakwaters, but Tanimoto and Kimura (1985) reasoned it to fit
TEST 2 27.14 46.68 1.72 55.88 2.06 also the case of inclined front, after a simple rotation of the
TEST 3 23.14 42.86 1.85 50.67 2.19 original pressure distribution. Note the authors introduced a
TEST 4 39.92 43.73 1.10 51.85 1.30 reduction factor for the maximum up-lift pressure p4, which holds
TEST 5 38.53 44.77 1.16 53.27 1.38 only for slopes larger than 70°; being the latter 35° here, it has
been neglected in the calculations.
However, a central step for the application of the Goda model is
Table 3:Vertical forces calculated by Goda and Hiroi model. the prediction of the maximum wave height (say H1/250) of the
Test Code Fv,meas F*v,Goda Fv,Goda SFGoda Fh,Hiroi SFHiroi incoming wave field in the neighborhood of the structure.
TEST 1 31.84 17.53 80.85 2.54 41.26 1.30 In the present context, it is reasonable to suppose the wave
TEST 2 33.96 19.21 85.88 2.53 43.66 1.29 motion to experience only limited transformation when travelling
TEST 3 31.37 16.66 77.88 2.48 39.59 1.26 across the foreshore up to the structure; this is in agreement with
TEST 4 34.33 17.24 79.70 2.32 40.52 1.18 visual inspection of the experiments and owes to the steepness and
TEST 5 35.11 17.94 81.88 2.33 41.63 1.19 shortness of the topography. Hence, the design wave height has
been taken as 1.8 times the measured incident significant wave
height. Note that, the coefficient α2 for the dynamic pressure at the
Table 4:Torque forces calculated by Goda and Hiroi model. still water level has been calculated using the wave height to depth
Test Code M,meas M,Goda SFGoda M,Hiroi SFHiroi ratio corresponding to the flat bottom in the channel.
TEST 1 6.65 25.30 3.80 14.00 2.10 Results shown in Table 2, 3 and 4 respectively refer to the
TEST 2 7.84 26.83 3.42 14.81 1.89 horizontal force (landward), the vertical force (upward) and torque
TEST 3 6.65 24.38 3.67 13.43 2.02 (counterclockwise around the inner toe).
TEST 4 7.29 24.94 3.42 13.74 1.89 Note the measured values of the 1/250 statistics are reported in
TEST 5 7.01 25.61 3.65 14.12 2.01 the second column of each table. As far as Fh is concerned, we see

Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue 64, 2011

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 Vicinanza et al.
the Goda model to yield safe estimates and the ratio between
calculation and measurements (SFGoda) ranges from 1.1 to 1.85.
On the other hand, when the uplift bottom pressures are added to
the vertical component of the front loadings (F*v,Goda in Table 3)
to estimate Fv substantial underestimates are obtained. This is
because the extreme values of Fh and Fv are not contemporaneous.
This problem could be solved with the introduction of
appropriate coefficients to apply to either Fv,front or the uplift.
However this would require more data. Thus the simplest solution
has been here considered of not using Fv,front in the calculations
(Fv,Goda in Table 3). As shown in Table 3 and Table 4, this
pragmatic approach leads to overpredict measured values of
verical forces and torques by a factor of 2.5 and 3.5 on average.
The last two columns of each table refer to the Hiroi’s formula
(1919), which has been widely used in the Japanese design
practice before 1970. The why of considering this approach is in
its simplicity; in addition the hypothesis of uniform distribution of
the outer face pressures might be not unrealistic, as our structure is
located in shallow water. When the maximum wave height (1.8
Hs) is employed, the formula produces safety factors rather
cautious (SF even larger than 3), whereas if the significant wave
height Hs is used, we obtain values comparable to the Goda’s
predictions, with SF not far from 2 for Fh and 1.25 and 2 on
average respectively for Fv and M.
The reason of that is extremely simple; in the Goda’s model the
maximum front face pressure, at the still water level, is of the
order of H1/250 , i.e. about 1.8 Hs, which, in turn, is not far from
Hiroi’s prediction (1.5 H).
CONCLUSIONS
The paper has presented results of small-scale experiments
conducted to estimate the magnitude of wave force and pressure,
acting on an overtopping driven device for the conversion of wave
energy into electricity, named SSG. The prototype pilot project is
to be built at Svåheia, along the South-West coast of Norway.
Hydraulic model tests have been carried out at LInC laboratory of
the Department of Hydraulic, Geotechnical and Environmental
Engineering (DIGA) of the University of Naples Federico II; a
Froude similitude criterion with a 66 scale ratio has been
employed.
The paper has focused on the overall wave force components
(horizontal force, vertical force and resulting torque), which have
been measured through a ad hoc weighting system sampled at 100
Hz. The main feature of the horizontal loading component is the
presence of a double hump in correspondence of the wave crest;
the latter are known to be a result of wave breaking. In the present
case we observed collapsing/surging breakers, with a bubbling
water tongue that rapidly climb the steep foreshore. As far as the
vertical component is concerned, the overtopping occurrence
seems to be central in the force time history. In fact when the
water overcomes the SSG roof, under the wave crest, the top
pressures are sufficiently intense to lead the total force to become
downward directed. Thus, during half a wave period we may have
two force peaks and a trough. This feature has to be carefully
considered in the time-domain analysis, to avoid an unrealistic
overestimation of force events, which likely lower the value of
extreme statistics. Otherwise, the time over which the structure is
contemporaneously pushed landward and upwards becomes
relatively short; this may require the structural response of the
wall to be studied under a dynamical frame.
In the last section of the paper we proved two classical
approaches of the Japanese design practice, namely Goda (1975)
and Hiroi (1919), could be used to have safe estimates of
measured loadings. In this view, it is important to mention that the
Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue 64, 2011
612
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extreme values of force at the front face and at the bottom do not
occur at the same time. For this reason it has been crudely
suggested of not accounting of the former, when estimating the
maximum vertical force as well as the overturning torque.
However, the application of those models gives estimations rather
cautious, which could be not ever cost-effective; the improvement
of their usage, based on supplementary (and wide) datasets, as
well as the analysis about the need of a new design method will be
among the scopes of the future research developments.
LITERATURE CITED
Goda, Y., 1975. Irregular wave deformation in the surf zone.
Coastal Engineering in Japan, 18, 13-25;
Goda, Y., 1985. Random Seas and Design of Maritime Structure.
University of Tokyo, Press, Tokyo, Japan;
Hamm, L. and Peronnard, C., 1997. Wave parameters in the
nearshore: A clarification. Coastal Engineering, 32(2-3),
119-135;
Hiroi, I., 1919. On a method of estimating the force of waves.
Tokyo University Engineering Reports, X, 19p;
Margheritini L, Vicinanza D, Frigaard P., 2009. SSG wave energy
converter: design, reliability and hydraulic performance of
an innovative overtopping device. Renewable Energy, 34,
1371-1380;
Tanimoto, K. and Kimura, K., 1985. A Hydraulic Experiment
Study on Trapezoidal Caisson Breakwaters. Technical Note
N.528, Port and Harbor Research Institute, Yokosuka, Japan;
Vicinanza, D. and Frigaard, P., 2008. Wave pressure acting on a
seawave slot-cone generator. Coastal Engineering, 55, 553-
568;
Welch, P.D., 1967. The use of Fast Fourier Transform for the
Estimation of Power Spectra: A Method Based on Time
Averaging Over Short, Modified Periodograms. IEEE
Transactions On Audio and Electroacustics, AU-15, 70-73;
Zelt, J.A., and Skjelbreia, J.E., 1992. Estimating incident and
reflected wave fields using an arbitrary number of wave
gauges. Proceedings of 23rd International Conference on
Coastal Engineering, ASCE, 466-480;
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The work discussed here is part of the Second University of
Naples founded project PRIST 2007 (Progetti di Ricerca di
Rilevante Interesse Scientifico e Tecnologico) titled “Convertitori
di Energia Ondosa per la produzione di Energia Elettrica” (Wave
Energy Converters for Electrical Production). The first Author
gratefully acknowledges Second University of Naples for
supporting this innovative research and encouraging mobility of
researchers.