Rapidly installed membrane breakwater in the oblique seas

Abstract

Obliquely incident wave interaction with a floating rigid pontoon breakwater consisting of triple vertical-porous-membrane structures was investigated within the context of two-dimensional linear wave-flexible body interaction theory and Darcy's law. The tensions in the triple membranes are achieved by hanging a heavy clump weight from its lower ends. The floating pontoon and flexible structures with clump weight are partially restrained by linear symmetric moorings, placed both fore and aft. The dynamic behavior of the breakwater was described through an appropriate Green function, and the fluid domains are incorporated into the boundary integral equation. The accuracy and convergence of the developed numerical code were checked using the energy convergence formula for a limited case. The numerical results were further verified through comparisons with the experimental data. It is found that the wave reflection and transmission properties of the structures mainly depend on the membrane length, which is taking major fraction of water column. Its also depends on the magnitude of tensions on membrane by the clump weight, proper mooring types and stiffness, and the permeability on the membrane that is dissipating wave energy. Copyright © 2004 by The International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers.