Effects of Submerged Structure on Rubble-Mound Breakwater: Experimental Study

Abstract

Breakwaters are generally constructed to protect the port and harbor facilities from dynamic forces of the ocean wave. However,stability problems of breakwaters have been issued due to the global warming, which causes the rising of sea level. A submergedstructure, more effective method for resolving such problem, can be expected to improve stability and practicality of the breakwater.For several decades, many researches for interaction waves and submerged structure have been carried out by changing the waveparameter or submerged structure dimension. Based on results from laboratory experiments, the reflection coefficient and the run-upweenadjacent two breakwaters. We found that the reflection coefficient decreased as the wave stepness increased. We also found that therun-up height decreased because the wave breaking and reflection due to a submerged structure, the relative height of a submergedstructure normalized by flow depth. Therefore, the dissipation of the incident wave energy plays an important role improving thestability of the rubble-mound breakwater more stable. The experimental outcomes can be a feasible design criteria of a submerged structure.