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213

Experimental Studies on Low crested


Rubble Mound, Semicircular
Breakwaters and Vertical wall System
Sreenivasa Reddy Kudumula1 and Muni Reddy G. Mutukuru2*
1ResearchScholar, Department of Civil Engineering, AU College of Engineering,
Visakhapatnam-530 006, A.P, India. Email: sri_kudumula@yahoo.co.in
2Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Andhra University College of

Engineering (A), Visakhapatnam-530 006, A.P, India.

ABSTRACT
Submerged and low-crested breakwaters have been widely used as wave energy
dissipaters along the coastline. Efficiency of the submerged breakwater depends on crest
free board, crest width and its permeability. In the present study, interaction of the regular
waves with the vertical wall, offshore low-crested rubble mound breakwater and
perforated semicircular breakwater is investigated. Wave forces on vertical wall,
transmission in the pool and the reflection from combined system are measured. The
main aim of the present study is to know the hydrodynamic performance of the low-
crested breakwaters. Maximum reduction of wave forces on the vertical wall was
observed for zero submergence condition and longer pool length. Performance of semi
circular low-crested breakwater was investigated in terms of energy loss coefficient
which includes transmission and reflection coefficients.

Keywords: low-crested breakwater; semi circular breakwater; vertical seawall; pool


length; energy loss coefficient.

1. INTRODUCTION
Coastal problems related to erosion and flooding are the outcome of the dominant wave climate in the
coastal areas in combination with currents, tides and storm surges. The development of various coastal
defense structures protecting the coastlines are extremely important; importance of such defense
structures has significantly increased during the last few decades along with amplified pressure on the
coastal zone. These conventional defense structures serve the coastline with direct protection by
preventing the water from accessing the area in need of preservation, for example through seawalls and
dikes. The structures can also provide indirect protection by reducing the hydraulic load on the coastal
area as in the case of groins or offshore breakwaters of various forms.
Today, vertical seawalls armor much of the developed shoreline. Many have done their job
admirably, protecting important establishments such as heavy industries, power plants, national
highways, railways, habitations etc., that otherwise would have probably tumbled into the sea.
Obviously, they block easy access to the beach and the view. More importantly, the beaches would
become narrow and eventually be eliminated.
Another way of reducing wave energy is by submerged structures (breakwaters, artificial reefs, etc.).
Low crested structures (LCS) are very typical coastal defenses in the North Atlantic Ocean or Bay of
Bengal along the coastline to prevent overtopping and overflow in low-lying areas. The climate of Bay
of Bengal is dominated by monsoons, severe wave climate, frequent cyclones, cyclonic storms, storm
surges and coastal erosion due to waves. The effects of a storm surge are most pronounced in wide and
shallow bays exposed to cyclones such as in the northern part of the Bay of Bengal. For this climate
*Corresponding Author: Muni Reddy G Mutukuru, Email: muni_reddyg@yahoo.co.in

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214 Experimental Studies on Low crested Rubble Mound, Semicircular Breakwaters and
Vertical wall System

the low crested structure provides a formidable solution to prevent coastal erosion from waves and
storm surges. Low crested breakwater and vertical wall system can be designed for an effective
integrated coastal protection scheme. LCSs are advantageous compared to other types of coastal
structures due to their low height and permeable nature. The dynamic state created by the LCS has
direct consequences on the wave regime, the sediment transport and the overall hydrodynamics of the
coastal cell.
Allsop (1983) studied the stability of reef breakwaters in terms of reduction in crest height due to
wave attack. Stability of low crested rubble mound breakwaters and submerged rubble mound
breakwaters was studied by Van der Meer (1988) and Van der Meer and Pilarczyk (1990). Using the
Allsop’s (1983) data the stability of the equations was presented for the low crested and submerged
rubble mound breakwaters.
Crest stability due to overtopping and transmission characteristics of low crested breakwater was
studied by Powell and Allsop (1985). Their results indicate that back face damage is generally greater
than front face for long period waves but the trend is reverse for short period waves. Losada and
Kobayashi (1992) presented a hybrid model to predict the armour stability of submerged conventional
breakwater and reported that the model over estimates the velocities immediately for landward crest of
the submerged breakwater for the case of small submergence. Design equation based on statistical
analysis methods was proposed by Hall and Seabrook (1998) to assess the performance of the
submerged rubble mound breakwaters of narrow and broad crest width under different wave conditions.
Due to the advances in the design and construction techniques, new types of breakwaters are being
introduced. The Semicircular Low-crested Breakwater (SCLB) is one such type. Sasajima et al., (l994)
have reported the results obtained on the measured pressures and forces on the rear wave dissipating
type semicircular breakwaters. Sundar and Raghu (1997) from their model tested on an impermeable
type semicircular breakwater subjected to regular waves concluded that the reflection coefficient, Kr
varied from 0.5 to 0.9. Dinakaran et al., (2008) studied the transmission coefficient for different surface
perforations on semicircular breakwaters.
Christie Schacht et al. (2001) investigated the seabed reaction and pore pressures due to the water
waves with the submerged breakwater, vertical seawall and sandy seabed. Hajime Mase et al., (2004)
studied the characteristics of random wave run up on models of seawalls. The experimental and
numerical investigations on the performance of an offshore submerged rubble mound breakwater were
presented by Muni Reddy and Neelamani (2005) and Muni Reddy et al., (2007). They observed
reduction in wave force and wave run up vertical seawall was defenced by submerged rubble mound
breakwater with a relative crest height of breakwater, h/d is one. Hong-Bin Chen et al., (2007)
presented the experimental results of wave transformation between a submerged permeable breakwater
and a seawall including the variations of wave profile, piling-up of water and the wave run up. Yong-
Sik Cho (2011) studied the wave setup between the submerged rectangular impermeable breakwater
and rubble mound breakwater and run up and rundown on the rubble mound breakwater. Carevic
Dalibor et al., (2011) studied the wave load reduction on perforated sea wall defenced by smooth
submerged breakwater through laboratory experiments.

2. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE AND INVESTIGATION


2.1 Experimental Set-up
The experimental set-up of the present study is shown in Fig.1. The experimental investigations are
carried out on a non-overtopping vertical wall (1180 mm length and 500 mm height) defenced by an
offshore low-crested rubble mound breakwater (LCRB) with 2H:1V sea side and 1.5H:1V leeside
slopes. The breakwater was laid with armour layer of 1.50-2.0 kg stones and core layer with 0.20-
0.50kg stones. Van der Meer (1988) formulae were used to design the armour units for no damage
condition. A semicircular low-crested breakwater (SCLB) with 0, 5, 10 and 15 percentages of
perforations was fabricated with GI sheet and MS angle frame. The ranges of the hydrodynamic and
structural parameters considered in the present experimental study is present in Table.1. Experiments
were conducted in a 45 m long, 1.2 m wide and 1.2 m deep wave flume in the Department of Civil

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Sreenivasa Reddy Kudumula and Muni Reddy G. Mutukuru 215

Engineering, Andhra University College of Engineering (A), Visakhapatnam, India. A vertical wall
made of mild steel angles and foam plastic sheet was fixed over a two-component strain gauge type
force transducer. The incident and other wave elevations were measured using conductance type wave
gauges. Force transducer and wave gauges are coupled to a dedicate computer for data acquisition and
to store the data for further processing.

Fig.1. Models of vertical seawall and SCLB and LCRB system in the flume.

2.2 Experimental Data Analysis


The regular wave measurements are collected for 100 seconds at a sampling rate of 40 Hz. A total of
488 sets of regular wave tests are performed. The force transducer and wave gauges were calibrated to
get the calibration constants. The data collected was converted into physical variables by using the
corresponding calibration constants. The raw data which is in the form of time series is analyzed in time
domain to get clear understanding of the phenomenon under investigation. The measured wave height,
wave periods and forces are obtained by analyzing the measured time histories of water surface
elevations and force amplitudes using the threshold-crossing analysis. Crossing analysis is a
generalization of the classical zero-crossing analysis. For a pre-defined reference level, the input time
series is divided into events. For each event, the peak–peak value, the minimum and maximum values,
and the duration are determined.
The time series of the parameters stated earlier were viewed to pick-up a window of time series with
regular trend by omitting the transient part. This also ensured that no re-reflected waves were present
in the selected window of the time series. The regular wave time series of force was then analyzed to
get the mean amplitude of the time history. The mean of all the amplitudes above the reference level in

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216 Experimental Studies on Low crested Rubble Mound, Semicircular Breakwaters and
Vertical wall System

a time series was taken as a positive or shoreward force. Similarly mean of all the amplitudes below
the reference level in a time series was taken as negative or seaward force. The mean amplitudes of
measured hydrodynamic force were obtained using the above procedure for each test run. [Fx]Shore is
the ratio of shoreward force on the seawall in the absence of the LCRB to shoreward force on the
seawall in the presence of LCRB. Incident wave elevations (Hi) were measured using capacitance wave
gauges in the absence of model in the flume for pre-determined sets of different wave period and wave
height combinations. This procedure was repeated thrice and the average value was calculated for the
wave height for that particular combination. It was done to check the repeatability of wave heights at
the same point with the model placed in the position.

Table1. Ranges of the wave and structural parameters considered in the present study

Low-crested Rubble mound Breakwater Semi-Circular Low-crested Breakwater


(LCRB) (SCLB)
Breakwater height, h=0.20 m Breakwater height, R=0.31 and 0.35 m
Breakwater crest width, B=0.40, 0.6 and Radius of the breakwater,
1.20 m R=0.31 and 0.35 m
Wave Period, T=1.0 -3.0 s Wave Period, T=1.0 -3.0 s
Wave height, H=0.05-0.20 m Wave height, H= 0.05 - 0.20 m
Relative breakwater height, h/d =0.66, Relative breakwater height, R/d = 0.80 and
0.83, 1.0, 1.16 and 1.33 1.0
Relative pool length, Lpl/h=7.5, 17.5 and Relative radius, R/Lpl=0.089, 0.10, 0.21 and
30 0.23

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION


3.1 Water surface elevation on the vertical seawall due to Regular Waves
Typical water surface elevation (ηp) time series is shown in Fig. 2 for different relative breakwater
heights (h/d=0.83-1.20) for H/L=0.032, d/L=0.015 – 0.23 and B/Lpl=0.40. Where h is the breakwater
crest height, B is the crest width, d is water depth, H is incident wave height and L is the wave length.
Reduction of water surface elevations (ηp) in the pool located between vertical seawall and LCRB can
be observed from time series of ηp. This signifies less reflection from the vertical seawall due to the
premature wave breaking induced by LCRB and ultimate reduction in average wave energy incident on
the wall.
This figure shows the irregular wave pattern and wave skewness in the pool for regular incident
waves. This irregular wave pattern consists of superposition of fundamental and higher wave
frequencies. The bispectrum can determine wave skewness and asymmetry arising from wave–wave
nonlinear interactions. The spectral analysis shows the second and higher order components which are
in multiples of fundamental frequency. In waves that are initially linear, nonzero wave skewness and
asymmetry arises as a result of nonlinear interaction between the frequency constituents of the waves
during the shoaling process. The findings provide improved understanding of changes in wave
skewness and asymmetry in the vicinity of structures, which may help mitigate scour and improve the
stability of breakwaters. This led Nielsen and Callaghan (2003) was concluded that the acceleration
effects, associated with the saw-tooth asymmetry of the flume waves, account for the greatest part of
the sediment transport. Christou et al. (2008) concluded that highly nonlinear processes are involved in
the evolution of waves propagating over a breakwater..
The irregular short crested transmitted waves in the pool are the result of reflection and re-reflection
of waves between the vertical seawall and LCS. From the above figure, a rise of mean water level in

International Journal of Ocean and Climate Systems


Sreenivasa Reddy Kudumula and Muni Reddy G. Mutukuru 217

Fig. 2 Time series of ηp in the pool and corresponding spectrum for different h/d under
regular waves for d/L = 0.15 – 0.23, H/L = 0.032 and B/Lpl = 0.40.

the pool was observed and this temporary rise in mean water level is known as wave set-up. Wave set-
up or pumping effect (Drei and Lamberti, 2000; Barbara Zanuttigh et al., 2008, and Ching-piao Tsai
et al., 2012) or the piling-up of water behind the protected area creates a difference in mean water level
inside the protected area than that in open sea. Set-up is found to be maximum, if the free surface is just
below the breakwater crest level (Loveless and Debski, 1998). If the crest is submerged, the flux over
the crest during the wave cycle is alternately directed inshore and offshore driven by waves and piling-
up. Since LCS`s are typically made of permeable rubble mound, return flow occurs also through the

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218 Experimental Studies on Low crested Rubble Mound, Semicircular Breakwaters and
Vertical wall System

structure due to the unbalance between the steady hydraulic gradient induced by piling-up and the
breaking wave thrust. Waves and currents around LCS can be estimated by means of physical or
numerical modeling.
For laboratory measurements, this effect is unavoidable due to the fact that the water is confined
between the sidewalls of the flume and the two structures. In the open sea, water can easily flow around
the structures. It should be noted that experiments were conducted in the two-dimensional wave flume,
and thus the values of mean surface water levels might be overestimated. Hence, the estimation of
transmission coefficient Kt (Kt =HT/HI) would be conservative. Where HI is the incident wave height
and HT is water surface elevation at a given point on the leeside of the LCS. This expression presents
a number of uncertainties; it varies with distance from the crest of the breakwater (leading edge of crest)
and also with position in plan with respect to the end points of the structure.
When the breakwater crest is at the still water level, considerable amount of overtopping and the re-
generation of waves was observed behind the breakwater, even though linear wave theory could have
predicted no wave transmission for this condition. The presence of transmitted waves, on the other
hand, implies a partial reflection of waves by vertical seawall. Differently from high barriers, the flow
rate over low-crested barriers is abundant and related to the rear piling-up. Overtopped water
accumulates behind the structure, establishing a higher mean water level, or piling-up, which forces
return flows along different paths: water may return off-shore through gaps and over the structure itself
if the crest is submerged.

3.1.1 Effect of crest width (B) on Kt


Generally, broader the crest larger the wave attenuation, since wave has to travel over wider crest area
against a frictional resistance. A large crest width means a large cross-sectional area, so a long way for
energy to pass through the structure and thus higher wave attenuation. It was observed that the wave
transmission coefficient decreased exponentially with increasing ratio of crest width to wave length,
B/L.
Wave breaking was clearly different turning from collapsing for high and intermediate waves to
spilling in case of the smallest waves. An increase in wave period moved the breaking point in the
onshore direction. The short waves break over the very beginning of the crest zone, while breaking of
the longer waves occurs at the lee ward limit of the crest zone.
During the present study three crest widths (0.4, 0.6 and 1.2m) were investigated to study the wave
attenuation characteristics of narrow and broad crested breakwaters. Fig. 3 shows the variation of Kt
with relative breakwater width (kB). For long period waves Kt was observed to be high. Normally
transmission would be small for the broad-crested or reef breakwaters compared to narrow-crested
breakwaters, as was observed by many investigators, but from this figure it was observed that for
submerged breakwater difference was insignificant. For short period wave effect of crest width in
reducing the transmission was large and for long waves Kt was more for broad-crested breakwaters
compared to the narrow-crested breakwaters.
Shoreline response to an offshore breakwater was controlled by many variables out of which
distance offshore (Lpl, is the distance between the vertical all and LCS), length of the structure,
transmission characteristics of the structure, beach slope and/or depth at the structure (controlled in part
by the sand grain size), mean wave height and period, orientation angle of the structure and
predominant wave direction were some of primary parameters. The efficiency of submerged structures
and the resulting shoreline response mainly found to depend on transmission characteristics and the
layout of the structure. A number of engineering procedures to estimate combined wave transmission
through a breakwater and wave overtopping are available, but still are not very reliable.
The development of alternative materials and systems, for example, the use of sand-filled geo-tubes
as core of such structures, can effectively reduce the cost (Pilarczyk, 1996, 1999). It is clear from these
plots that Kt follows a well defined trend for h/d=1.0 for all the wave heights and all crest widths.
Similar trend was observed SCLB. Kt is more for R31P0 than R35P0. For R35P15 Kt is more than
R35P5 due to influence of SCLB porosity.

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Sreenivasa Reddy Kudumula and Muni Reddy G. Mutukuru 219

Fig.3. Variation of Kt with (kB) and (kR) under regular waves for different Lpl and h/d

3.1.2 Effect of crest free board (hc) on Kt


The crest height is related to still water level and is known as crest freeboard hc. It is the vertical
distance with reference to still water level and the top of the breakwater which is also called draft, is
one of the most important parameter for wave transmission. This value is positive if the crest of the
breakwater is above the still water level and negative if it is below the still water level. The
dimensionless crest height can be defined in the following two ways; Van der Meer and Daemen (1994)
considered the use of the nominal diameter Dn50 in order to describe the influence of crest height on
wave transmission as (hc/Dn50); d’Angremond et al., (1996) (hc/Hi), related to incident wave height.
This enables a description of impermeable smooth structures too and not only rubble mound structures.
Another description of dimensionless crest height by Powell and Allsop (1985) is R*p which includes
both wave height and wave steepness. From the analysis of the data it was concluded (Van der Meer
and Daemen, 1994) that the parameter R*p is not better than (hc/Hi) as long as the whole range of
relative crest levels is considered.
Fig.4 shows the variation of Kt with crest free board. The average value of Kt is for -4 £ (hc/Hi) ≥ -
1.1 is 0.8. A clear trend can be observed from the results though a considerable scatter is present for

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220 Experimental Studies on Low crested Rubble Mound, Semicircular Breakwaters and
Vertical wall System

(hc/Hi) =0. For the case (hc/H) is zero, all the influence of the wave height on the dimensionless
parameter seems to be lost when hc becomes zero. This results in large scatter in the values of wave
transmission for hc/H =0. A closer analysis shows that part of the scatter can be attributed to the
influence of wave period; and part to crest width and permeability. Extremely small waves may have
some influence as well. The water surface elevation data presented in the above figure is limited to the
range studied in the present investigation. Waves with Hi/L > 0.07 are not stable and will break due to
their steepness. Therefore, tests with Hi/L exceeding this value have been discarded. Also a very low
wave steepness of Hi/L > 0.002 is difficult to be generated in a flume and tests showing a wave
steepness smaller than this value are considered less reliable and thus discarded.
As (hc/Hi) approaches zero, Kt becomes 0.5. This can be explained as follows: for (hc/Hi)=0 (hc=0
for fixed Hi), the crest of the breakwater will be even with the still water level; therefore, the wave
trough will be reflected and only the crest of the wave will pass beyond the breakwater towards the
beach. Using Linear Wave Theory, one would expect a Kt value of 0.5 for this asymptotic case. For the
other asymptotic case (hc/Hi), approaches infinity and Kt approaches zero.

Fig 4. Variation of Kt with relative crest free board hc/H under regular waves over SCLB

In order for (hc/Hi) to approach infinity, either hc approaches infinity (finite breakwater height at infinite
water depth) while Hi remains finite or Hi approaches zero (absence of waves) while hc remains finite.
For very large crest freeboards the transmission coefficient should become 0 and for a very small
structure (very large negative freeboard) 1. But this is very often outside the range of practical
applicability, as even for a very high structure small wave transmission may occur due to transmission
through and not over the structure. The main discussion is of course the wave transmission varies fairly
quickly from small to large with decreasing freeboard.
In general it can be said that the higher the crest free board or draft the lower the wave transmission.
For submerged structures this is also true, but for very high negative values of hc/H i.e., hc/H > -4, the
breakwater has lost its influence on wave transmission and Kt will then be 1.0.

3.2 Dynamic Forces on the vertical wall


Wave force estimation on seawall is most essential for the stability evaluation of the structure. The
characteristics of wave forces exerted on impermeable vertical seawall without LCS and defenced by

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Sreenivasa Reddy Kudumula and Muni Reddy G. Mutukuru 221

a LCRB and SCLB under regular waves are presented in this study. The spectral characteristics of wave
forces on impermeable vertical seawall with an offshore LCS are also reported.
Fig. 5 shows typical time history of shoreward wave force (Fxshore) against different percentages of
perforations for R/Lpl=0.233 and R/L=0.056, where R is the radius of SCLB. From this figure it is
evident that Fxshore increases with porosity. From this figure a quantitative reduction in wave forces can
be clearly seen with the increase in h/d. The force spectral diagram shows higher order force
components in addition to the fundamental frequency of wave force. The non-dimensional force is

Fig.5. Time series of (Fshore) and its spectrum for R/L = 0.056, and R/Lpl = 0.233.

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222 Experimental Studies on Low crested Rubble Mound, Semicircular Breakwaters and
Vertical wall System

small for steep waves. Steep waves dissipate its energy by breaking over the crest of the breakwater
and thus resulting in a high force reduction compared to flatter waves. Since a design wave is generally
steep, its dissipation is more important.
Fig. 6 presents the variation of non-dimensional force [Fx/ρgdH]shore with dimensionless pool length
Lpl/L. It was observed that, in the range of ( n + 1) < Lpl/L < 1 (2 n + 2) (n = 0, 1, 2, 3…) [Fx/rgdH]shore
1
4 6
is minimum. For Lpl/L < 0.25, this figure shows shift in the peak of dimensionless force (0.132) for
h/d=1.00 and 1.16. For h/d=1.00, minimum force ratio is at 0.160 where as for h/d=0.66,0.83, 1.16 and
1.33 it is 0.111. For the submerged breakwater (h/d=0.66 and 0.83) and Lpl/L < 0.25 peak is at 0.198.
1
For Lpl/L > 0.25 peak occurs at Lpl/L = (2 n + 2) for all five cases of h/d. The natural frequency of the
6
pool between the two barriers is more than the frequency of the transmitted wave and this ensures that
the pool will not experience the resonance.

Fig.6 variation of dimensionless shoreward force with Lpl/L for Lpl/d = 3.33 and H/d = 0.165
for different h/d ratios.

3.3 Performance Evaluation Criteria


The functionality of a breakwater is generally assessed by transmission coefficient Kt, reflection
coefficient Kr and dissipation or energy loss coefficient KL as follows:

HT
Kt = (1)
HI

HR
Kr = (2)
HI

K L = 1− K t2 − K r2 (3)

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Sreenivasa Reddy Kudumula and Muni Reddy G. Mutukuru 223

Where HI is the incident wave height, and HT and HR are the transmitted and reflected waves,
respectively. Due to difficulty in measuring the energy loss, the amount of energy dissipation at the
breakwater is estimated by the law of conservation of energy, yielding the equation (3).
The hydraulic behavior of the SCLB in regular waves was investigated with respect to structure
geometry, relative depth of immersion, and wave conditions. In this study, the geometrical effect of
structure was represented by the relative breakwater width, R/L, where R is the radius of the
breakwater.
Figure 7(a) shows the effect of R/H on Kt, for two relative depths of breakwaters, i.e. h/d = 0.80 and
1.00. These numbers indicate a faster reduction of Kt with R/H. Improvement of wave attenuation of
the SCLB P10 model at higher range of R/H is mainly due to energy dissipation and small amount of
wave reflection.
Figure 7(b) shows the reflective characteristics of the SCLB model with respect to R/H. The
dependence of Kr upon R/H was found to be less significant compared to that of Kt. The data points of
Kr for R/d = 0.78, 0.91 and 1.15 are varying from 0.40 – 0.70. Kr for R/d = 0.80, 0.86, 0.95 and 1.17
play mild fluctuating behavior with R/H for P5, varying from 0.40 – 0.50. For same values of R/d and
for P10, Kr was varying from 0.20 – 0.50 and similarly for P15, Kr was varying from 0.10 – 0.50. The
large scatter of Kr for P15 might be attributed to relatively higher porous nature of this model.

Fig. 7. Continued

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224 Experimental Studies on Low crested Rubble Mound, Semicircular Breakwaters and
Vertical wall System

Fig. 7. Variation of (a) Kt (b) Kr (c) KL with relative structure height (R/H) under regular
waves for different porosities of SCLB.

Figure 7(c) presents the energy loss or dissipation characteristics of the SCLB models of 0, 5, 10 and
15 percent porosity for the respective h/d values tested in this study. The model P15 demonstrates its
good efficiency in dissipating wave energy of the shorter period waves for all submergence depths. The
larger the breakwater submergence, the greater is the resultant KL. Energy dissipation at this R/H range
can only be further enhanced by the increase of breakwater submergence. From the observations during
the experiments, the hydraulic processes deemed to contribute to the energy dissipation which includes:
(i) exchange of water jet flow around the porous front wall during the passage of waves; (ii) wave run-
up at the front curved wall; (iii) water infiltration to the breakwater’s chamber through pores; (iv)
formation of eddies around the bottom walls; (v) turbulent flow within the chamber; and (vi) flow
instability close to the free surface at the leeside of the breakwater due to pressure difference. The
number and intensity of aforementioned processes taking place at the SCLB model vary with test
conditions. From Figure 7 it was also indirectly shown in the plots that the dependence of the energy
coefficients upon the wave steepness was comparatively weak.

4. CONCLUSIONS
The interaction of the waves with the vertical seawall in the presence of offshore low-crested rubble
mound and semicircular breakwater with different perforation is investigated in the present study. The
wave forces on vertical wall, water surface elevations in the pool and reflection from the combined
system under the action of regular waves were measured.
Reduction of wave force on the vertical wall was observed to be maximum for h/d=1 as compared
to submerged and emerged breakwaters. Maximum reduction in the wave forces were observed for
longer pool lengths than the shorter pool lengths. Non-dimensional force ratio of SCLB was less for
zero submergence in all its cases studied in the present investigation. Decrease in the non-dimensional
force ratio with wave steepness and relative radius was observed for the SCLB.
The average value of Kt is for -4 ≤ (hc/Hi) ≥ -1.1 is 0.8. Reflection coefficient Kr varied from 0.40
to 0.50 for (SCLB) with 5 percent perforations and 0.10 to 0.50 for (SCLB) with 15 percent
perforations. The energy loss characteristics of the SCLB models of 0, 5, 10 and 15 percent perforations
for different relative crest height values were tested. The model P15 demonstrates its high efficiency in
dissipating wave energy of the shorter period waves for all submergence depths.

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Sreenivasa Reddy Kudumula and Muni Reddy G. Mutukuru 225

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International Journal of Ocean and Climate Systems

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