Wave Motion and Seabed Response around a Vertical Structure Sheltered by Submerged Breakwaters with Fabry–Pérot Resonance

Abstract

This paper presents the results from a numerical simulation study to investigate wave trapping by a series of trapezoidal porous submerged breakwaters near a vertical breakwater, as well as the seabed response around the vertical breakwater. An integrated model, based on the volume-averaged Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (VARANS) equations is developed to simulate the flow field, while the dynamic Biot’s equations are used for simulating the wave-induced seabed response. The reflection of the wave energy over the submerged breakwaters, caused by the vertical breakwater, can be reserved, indicating that the existence of the submerged breakwaters in the front of the vertical breakwater can either provide shelter or worsen the hazards to the vertical breakwater. Numerical examples show two different modes under the Fabry–Pérot (F–P) resonance condition of the wave transformation, namely the wave reflection (Mode 1) and the wave trapping (Mode 2). The distance between the submerged breakwaters and the vertical breakwater, is a key parameter dominating the local hydrodynamic process and the resultant dynamic stresses around the vertical breakwater. The numerical results indicated that more submerged breakwaters and a higher porosity of submerged breakwaters will obviously dissipate more wave energy, and hence induce a smaller wave force on the rear vertical breakwater and liquefaction area around the vertical breakwater.

Keywords

• wave trapping
• Bragg reflection
• Fabry–Pérot resonance
• porous submerged breakwaters
• wave force
• seabed response