Floating breakwaters : predicting their performance

Morey, Bradley J. (Bradley Joseph) (1998) Floating breakwaters : predicting their performance. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

[English] PDF (Migrated (PDF/A Conversion) from original format: (application/pdf)) - Accepted Version Available under License - The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. Download (8MB) [English] PDF - Accepted Version Available under License - The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. (Original Version)

Abstract

Current environmental and financial restrictions on harbour developments dictate that alternatives to traditional fixed rubble mound and caisson breakwaters are required. The most common solution is the Floating Breakwater, a concept which utilizes reflection, dissipation, and/or transformation to reduce incident wave energy. The design and construction of these for exposed coastal regions present major engineering challenges. -- The primary objective of this thesis was to develop a comprehensive design rationale to enable the designer predict local wave climate (exceedance probabilities, design spectra), optimize a breakwater design (structural parameters, mooring systems) and estimate costs. To facilitate this a number of aspects were reviewed including methods utilized in predicting the wind-wave climate in fetch limited regions, design criteria for inner harbour wave climates, and performance prediction techniques. Based on this review the author developed a simplified deterministic approach to performance prediction based on dimensional and regression analysis of model test data. This information was combined into a computer simulation to predict the local wave climate, optimize the floating breakwater size, design the mooring system, and determine the cost effective solution.

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