Experimental study on the performance of twin plate breakwater

The wave transmission characteristics and wave induced pressures on twin plate breakwater are investigated experimentally in regular and random waves. A total of twenty pressure transducers are fixed on four surfaces of twin plate to measure the wave induced dynamic pressures. The spatial distribution of dynamic wave pressure is given along the surface of the twin plate. The uplift wave force obtained by integrating the hydrodynamic pressure along the structure is presented. Discussed are the influence of different incident wave parameters including the relative plate width B/L, relative wave height Hi/a and relative submergence depth s/a on the non-dimensional dynamic wave pressures and total wave forces. From the investigation, it is found that the optimum transmission coefficient, Kt occurs around B/L = 0.41∼0.43, and the twin plate breakwater is more effective in different water depths. The maximum of pressure ratio decreases from 1.8 to 1.1 when the relative submergence depth of top plate is increased from −0.8 to +0.8.