Reef breakwaters can provide shoreline protection with low environmental impact. They offer a sensitive engineering solution where a competent economical and functional design method needs the knowledge of relationships linking basic parameters such as freeboard, crest width, wave transmission and set-up behind the structure. This paper aims to contribute to existing knowledge on hydrodynamic interaction of waves and submerged breakwaters, emphasizing results obtained by laboratory hydraulic model tests. Comparison of test data for various submerged structures versus existing design formulae, and available numerical models, is discussed in this paper. Results presented refer to: wave transmission; wave breaking; wave set-up; bed shear velocity; littoral currents and sediment transport. Conclusions on the application of various methods for studying and design of reef breakwaters are presented. Recommendations for further physical and numerical studies are proposed.
展开▼
