Floating Breakwater Response to Waves Action Using a Boussinesq Model Coupled with a 2DV Elliptic Solver

TLDR: In this article, the authors studied the hydrodynamic behavior of fixed and heave motion floating breakwaters using a finite-difference, mathematical model based on the Boussinesq type equations.

Abstract: The hydrodynamic behavior of fixed and heave motion floating breakwaters is studied in the present paper, using a finite-difference, mathematical model based on the Boussinesq type equations. The flow under the floating breakwater is treated separately as confined flow. The pressure field beneath the floating structure is determined by solving implicitly the Laplace equation for the potential Φ of the confined flow using the appropriate boundary conditions. The dynamic equation of heave motion is solved with the consequent adjustments of the continuity equation in the case of a heave motion floating breakwater. Numerical results, concerning the efficiency of fixed and heave motion floating breakwaters, are compared to experimental results satisfactorily. The ability of the numerical model to predict the pressure field beneath the floating structure and the vertical force acting on it is thoroughly examined by making comparisons of the numerical results with large-scale experimental data. The experiments were conducted in the CIEM flume of the Catalonia Univ. of Technology, Barcelona, Spain. The final goal is to study floating breakwaters efficiency in shallow and intermediate waters.