Experimental study on hydrodynamic characteristics of a composite box-type floating breakwater with porous side wings

Abstract

Floating breakwaters are an important engineering measure for mitigating marine environmental risks and enhancing the safety of offshore structures. Focusing on the effects of porous damping materials on the hydrodynamic performance of floating breakwaters, this study designs and tests eight floating breakwater models with different widths of porous damping sections in a wave flume. Their wave attenuation performance, motion responses, and mooring loads are systematically analyzed. The results demonstrate that increasing the width of the porous side wings significantly enhances the wave energy dissipation capacity of the structure. Compared with a conventional floating breakwater, when the width of the porous side wings increases to 15–20 cm, the wave transmission coefficient decreases by 12–20%, the amplitudes of heave, pitch, and surge motions increase by 30–50%, and the mooring forces decrease by 28–42%. Furthermore, the variation in mooring forces is strongly dependent on wave height. These findings provide a basis for the hydrodynamic design and parameter optimization of porous floating breakwaters.