Breaking Waves

A New Concept for Pile Supported

Skirt Breakwaters
Who Should Read this Paper?
This paper will be of interest to the ocean community, particularly those
with an interest in hydrodynamics and deep port development. While
the work covered in the paper represents a new concept, there are
considerable additional related studies that could be undertaken.

Why it is Important
LAJU KOTTALIL This paper is important because it represents research on emerging types
of breakwaters for development of artificial harbours in water depths
greater than 15m. The hydrodynamic performance characteristics of pile
supported skirt breakwaters is investigated both experimentally and
analytically. Literature about performance of multiple rows of combined
systems of closely spaced piles and skirts is rather scanty, if not available.
The paper introduces a new concept for a breakwater, which is economical
and acceptable from an environmental point of view.

The concept has potential commercial applications in the development of

deep water ports, particularly where a multipurpose structure is required
for berthing, loading and unloading cargo. The concept may be suitable
at locations where scarcity of space exist inside the ports for the
DR. V. SUNDAR
creation of marinas and in locations where the soil is soft.

About the Authors

Laju Kottalil is senior lecturer in M.A. college of Engineering,
Kothamangalam, Kerala, India and has a civil engineering background.
He is presently pursuing his program in the Dept. of Ocean Engineering,
IIT Madras at Chennai, India.

Prof. V. Sundar is a specialist in wave structure interaction and coastal

engineering. He has 26 years of research and teaching experience and
has published several papers in leading journals.

DR. R. SUNDARAVADIVELU Prof. R Sundaravadivelu is an expert in wave structure interaction and port
engineering. He has accumulated 24 years of research and teaching
experience and has published several papers in leading journals.

32 THE JOURNAL OF OCEAN TECHNOLOGY • Reviews & Papers

STUDIES ON PILE SUPPORTED DOUBLE SKIRT BREAKWATER MODELS

K. Laju*, V. Sundar**, R. Sundaravadivelu**

*Research Scholar, **Professor, Department of Ocean Engineering, IIT Madras, Chennai, India- 600 036.

E mail: lajukottalil@hotmail.com, vsundar@iitm.ac.in, rsun@iitm.ac.in

ABSTRACT

Large draft requirement for modern container ships and tankers demand for offshore berthing, for which, a pile supported
skirt breakwater is a promising concept. Compared to conventional types of breakwaters, this is environment friendly and
economical for locations where tidal fluctuations are large and soil conditions are poor. The basic concept of a pile
supported breakwater is to serve as an impervious barrier near the free surface where there is more water particle
movement while leaving the lower region unobstructed. The barriers are supported on closely spaced concrete or steel
piles. The barrier would consist of pre cast elements which are connected to the piles on site. This paper describes the
details of numerical and experimental studies on the hydrodynamic characteristics of this type of breakwater. The
numerical model is based on Eigen function expansion theory for linear waves. The model is used to study in detail the
inter-dependence of the various structural and flow parameters in dictating the hydrodynamic performance of the
breakwater type considered in the present study, in attenuating the incident wave energy. The numerical results are
compared with experimental results and the agreement in general is found to be good.

1. NOMENCLATURE H i incident wave height

Kr coefficient of reflection
Kt coefficient of transmission
Kl coefficient of dissipation =
B spacing between the pile rows
d water depth
h submergence of barrier
th
h i submergence of i barrier
SWL still water level
ω angular frequency
H wave height
H r reflected wave height
H t transmitted wave height
Φ velocity potential
1− k r2 − K t2 t time in sec
x horizontal coordinate
z vertical coordinate
Re [ ] real part
i −1
L wave length
k wave number 2π / L
g gravitational constant

Building with Boxes, Vol. 2, No. 1, 2007 33

Ii two dimensional velocity potential in i th region berthing of vessels is considered. Offshore breakwaters
th are required to shelter these vessels. The most common
xi horizontal coordinate of i barrier
th type of breakwater is the rubble mound consisting of layers
ai opening beneath i barrier= d – h i
th of graded stone with large concrete blocks as armor layer,
b i thickness of i barrier
which for deeper water applications become
H porosity of the barrier
uneconomical. In addition, in offshore locations with severe
f friction coefficient
wave climate, the construction of rubble mound
Cm added mass coefficient
breakwater is not practical as the stones are easily carried
s inertia coefficient = 1 C m 1 H  / H
away by the waves. An alternative is concrete caissons,
G i permeability parameter of i barrier = H / f  is 
th
Iw incident wave potential
A im coefficients in Eigen function expansion
P 0 -ik
b clear space between piles
D diameter of piles
T wave period in sec
kd product of wave number and water
depth = 2Sd / L
R u wave run-up on the barrier
H c height of oscillation of water in between the barriers
(oscillation at the centre of the chamber)
H c /H i non dimensional chamber oscillation
R u /H i non dimensional run-up
B/d ratio of chamber width to water depth
h/d submergence ratio
B/L ratio of chamber width to wave length
2. INTRODUCTION
The rapid development in trade and commerce,
coupled with scientific advancement, have lead to the
development of bigger vessels demanding larger draft. In
locations where required draft is not available near the
shore or where capital dredging is expensive, offshore
34 THE JOURNAL OF OCEAN TECHNOLOGY • Reviews & Papers
which have inherent problems like scour and instability,
because of excessive reflections from its vertical face.
The vertical composite breakwater is a better option
in which a ruble mound dissipates the wave under normal
conditions and a caisson wall provide additional protection
at high tide. However, if the tidal current is large,
construction of a composite breakwater will create a
disturbance to the natural flow of water. Further,
conventional breakwaters cause environmental problems
like siltation of channel and erosion in regions where littoral
drift is predominant. Construction of a pile-supported
breakwater will allow the free passage of tidal currents with
the least disturbance to the environment. At locations with
soft soil and no hard stratum within reasonable depth, a
pile supported breakwater can be an alternative.
Although, the disturbance due to waves is felt over
the entire depth, most of it is concentrated closer to the
free surface. Hence it would be sufficient to provide
barriers for attenuating the waves, only up to a certain
depth below the mean water line instead of over the entire
depth. The efficiency of such structures depends on the
depth of immersion, its type, whether permeable or
impermeable, the degree of desired tranquility, and the
wave characteristics. Closely spaced piles and submerged
skirts as an alternative for breakwaters have been tried in
the past. Pile breakwater consisting of closely spaced piles
alone has been tried [Nagai 1966; Hayashi et al. 1968;
Abdul Khader and Rai 1981] in the past, but their
performance was not very encouraging and driving of piles
at very close proximity is practically difficult. Weele and
Herbich [1972] performed experiments on rows of piles to
determine the reflection and transmission characteristics.
The coefficient of reflection was found to decrease with an
increase in longitudinal and transverse spacing between
piles. It was concluded that longitudinal spacing of piles is
of equal importance when compared with the transverse
direction with regard to reflection characteristics of pile
groups. Kakuno [1983] analysed wave reflection and
transmission by an infinite array of vertical thin walls and
both circular and rectangular cylinders as a boundary value
problem by applying the matched asymptotic expansions. It
was concluded that the reflection coefficient for the square
cylinders is the largest and that for the thin walls is the
smallest among the three types of walls that were
considered. Gardner et al. [1988] have reported their
studies on model tests of a slotted vertical screen
breakwater for a marina at Plymouth, England. The
reflection and transmission coefficients were measured for
single and double screens for which porosity was varied
between 8% and 35%. It is reported that a porosity of 8%
for a single and 16% for double screen gave acceptable
values of reflection and transmission coefficients. Issacson
et al. [1998; 1999] developed a numerical model on wave
interaction with partially submerged thin, single and double
vertical slotted barriers. The numerical model was based
on the Eigen function expansion method which utilizes a
boundary condition at the barrier surface that accounts for
energy dissipation within the barrier. Based on a
comparison with experimental results, empirical
coefficients to be used in the numerical model were
suggested. Gilman and Kriebel [1999] have described a
simple design procedure for a partial depth pile supported
wave barrier and claimed that such barriers are relatively
cheaper compared to conventional ruble mound
breakwaters up to water depths of 20m. The
hydrodynamic performance characteristics of a quadrant
front face, pile supported breakwater have been reported
by Sundar and Subba Rao [2003]. The dynamic pressures
of the front face due to both regular and random waves
have been measured. It was reported that the relative
spacing between the piles adopted in their study does not
affect the coefficient of reflection ( K r ) significantly. The K r
for the structure was found to vary between 0.25 and 0.85
for regular wave tests, whereas, in the case of random
wave tests, it varied from 0.3 to 0.7. Balaji and Sundar
[2004] studied horizontal slotted wave screens with
circular intercepting elements and compared experimental
results with a numerical model based on Green’s Identity
formula. The effect of porosity and shape of the
intercepting elements were investigated. Kriebel [2004], by
comparing extensive experimental results on wave screens
with the results of a modified numerical model based on
Issacson et al. 1998], proposed design guidelines for a
single wave barrier and suggested a modification to the
value of he friction parameter. Recently, Suh et al. [2006]
conducted studies on the hydrodynamic characteristics of
pile-supported vertical wall breakwaters in regular and
random waves. The experimental results were compared
with results of a numerical model using the Eigen function
expansion method. The study of literature reveals that the
performance of a pile breakwater consisting of closely
spaced piles alone is not very encouraging and driving the
piles at very close proximity is practically difficult. The
Building with Boxes, Vol. 2, No. 1, 2007 35
combined effect of closely spaced piles together with a driving of piles. Hence the skirt is eccentric to the centre
skirt, particularly the spacing between multiple rows and line of pile rows whereas Suh et al. [2006] have
the effect of relative submergence of the skirts, have not considered a monolithic assembly of rectangular piles and
been studied in detail and is an area that needs intense a skirt where the skirt is of same thickness as that of piles
research. and are concentric with centre line of pile row.
With this background, the pile supported skirt
breakwater model shown in Figure 1 consisting of an
3. THEORETICAL FORMULATION AND ASSUMPTIONS
impermeable wave barrier near the free surface, supported
on steel or concrete piles separated by a distance is taken
The structure considered in this study can be
up for studies. The portion of the breakwater from the
idealized as four rows of parallel, thin vertical barriers along
bottom of the vertical barrier to the sea floor, and the
their respective centre lines, separated by some distance.
spacing between the piles allow the free passage of water
The fluid-structure system and Cartesian coordinate
and marine life. The foot print of this type of breakwater on
system are shown in Figure 2. The first and fourth rows
the sea floor is small compared to that of rubble mound or
represent the skirts, and second and third rows represent
composite type. Hence, ships can approach them closer,
the pile rows. The spacing between the first and second
and berth on its lee side for loading and unloading
rows, as well as the spacing between third and fourth
operations. The top of the pile supported skirt breakwater
rows, depends on the thickness and diameter of the skirt
can be used for loading/unloading or for the operation of
and piles.
handling equipments.

Figure 2. Definition sketch – sectional view of the domain.

A Cartesian coordinate system ( x, z ) is defined

Figure 1. Pile supported skirt breakwater.
The breakwater model considered herein is almost
similar to that of Suh et al. [2006] the difference being that
double row circular piles are considered and the relatively
thin skirt could be rigidly fixed to the pile row after the
perpendicular to the plane of the barriers, with the origin at
the seabed, mid-way between the barriers with B being the
spacing between the pile rows. The abscissa is horizontal,
measured positive in the direction of wave propagation and
z - axis is vertically upwards from the seabed. The seabed
is horizontal and water depth is ‘d ’. In general, the barriers

36 THE JOURNAL OF OCEAN TECHNOLOGY • Reviews & Papers

extend downwards, a distance h i (where i = 1 to 4 ) below (a) Permeable Boundary Condition
the still water level, SWL. Waves are assumed to be The boundary condition along the permeable barriers
regular, small amplitude and normally incident on the may be developed on the basis of the formulation of Sollit
structure. The wave height is H and angular frequency is and Cross [1972] and as adopted by Yu [1995] for a thin
ω. The structure is assumed as rigid with negligible vertical barrier extending to the seabed, which may be
deformations and the fluid is assumed incompressible, expressed as
inviscid, and irrotational. Hence, the fluid motion can be
∂φi ∂φi +1 Gi
described by a velocity potential Φ that satisfies the = = i (φi − φi +1 )
∂x ∂x bi
Laplace equation within the fluid region. In addition, the (4)
wave height is assumed sufficiently small for linear wave along x = ± xi for a ≤ z ≤ d
theory to be valid. Under these assumptions, velocity where b I is the barrier thickness and G I is a permeability
potential can be expressed as th
parameter of I barrier, which is generally complex.

Φ (x , z ,t ) = Re [Cφ (x , z )exp (− iωt )]

Equation (4) corresponds to the fluid velocity normal to the
(1)
barrier being proportional to the pressure difference across
where the barrier, with a complex constant of proportionality so
§ igH · 1 that the real part of G I corresponds to the resistance of the
C = −¨ ¸ (2)
© 2ω ¹ cosh (kd ) barrier and the imaginary part of G I corresponds to the
phase differences between the velocity and the pressure
Re [ ] denotes the real part of the argument,
due to inertial effects. Sollitt and Cross [1972] have defined
i = − 1 , t is time, k is the wave number, and g is
G I as
the gravitational constant. The fluid domain is
ε
subdivided into five regions by the planes of the Gi = (5)
f − is
barriers, as shown in the earlier figure, and the two
where, ε is the porosity of the barrier, f is a friction
dimensional potential in equation (1) is denoted as
coefficient and s is an inertia coefficient given by
φ 1, φ 2 … φ 5 in respective regions. The pressure
s = 1+ C m
(1− ε ) (6)
(and hence the velocity potential) and the horizontal
ε
velocity are equated along the matching boundaries
in which, Cm is the added mass coefficient. The friction
(x = -x1, x = x2, x = x3, x = x4) within the fluid. The
coefficient f is treated as a constant and is assumed to be
conditions along the matching boundaries are thus
known as per Yu [1995]. Since the porous medium

∂φi ∂φi +1 considered here is a fixed structure, contrary to the model

φi = φi +1; =
∂x ∂x conceived by Sollit and Cross [1972], the value of Cm is
(3) equal to zero. The friction coefficient f varies with the
along x = ± xi for 0 ≤ z ≤ a i
characteristics of the medium and a value of f = 2 has
where ai = d - h i .

Building with Boxes, Vol. 2, No. 1, 2007 37

been adopted as suggested by Issacson et al. [1998] for Iw cosh kz expikx  (12)
porous barriers.
Also, μ m for m t 1 are the positive real roots of the
(b) Eigen Function Expansion following equation, taken in an ascending order
Expressions for I 1, I 2, …., I 5 which satisfy the
Z 2d for m t 1
seabed, free surface, and radiation conditions, as well as Pm d tanPmd   (13)
g
the above conditions along x = x i, may be developed in
terms of eight sets of coefficients A 1m, A 2m, A 3m, .., A 8m μo itself corresponds to the imaginary root of the above
which are initially unknown. equation, such that μ0 = - ik, with the wave number k
being given as the real root of the corresponding equation
f
I1 Iw  ¦ A1m cosPm z exp>Pm x  x 1 @ for x d -x1  (7)
m 0
Z 2d
kd tanhkd  (14)
f
g
I2 ¦ A2m cos Pm z  exp> Pm x  x 1 @
m 0 Thus, each of the equations (7) to (11) represent the
f
(8)
 ¦ A3m cos Pm z  exp>Pm x  x 2 @ incident wave train combined with a superposition of a
m 0
propagating mode (m = 0) and a series of evanescent
for - x 1 d x d -x 2 
modes (m t 1) which decay with the distance away from
f the barrier. They satisfy all the relevant boundary
I3 ¦ A4m cos Pm z  exp> Pm x  x 2 @ conditions, except that the conditions of pressure continuity
m 0
f
(9) along the matching boundary and the boundary condition
 ¦ A5m cos Pm z  exp>Pm x  x 3 @
m 0 at the barrier surface are still needed to determine the
for - x 2 d x d x 3 
coefficients A 1m, A 2m, A 3m, .., A 8m .

f
For 0 t z t a I , the matching conditions expressed in
I4 ¦ A6m cosPm z exp> Pm x  x 3 @ Eq. (3) give rise to a set of eight equations for A 1m, A 2m, A
m 0
f , .., A 8m . Along the surface of the barriers, the boundary
3m
 ¦ A7m cosPm z exp>Pm x  x 4 @ (10)
m 0
conditions expressed by equation (4) gives rise to an
for x 3 d x d x 4  additional set of eight equations for a i d z d d. Each of the
sixteen equations is first multiplied by cos( μn z ), then
f
I5 ¦ A8m cosPm z exp> Pm x  x 4 @ (11)
integrated with respect to z over the appropriate domain of
m 0
z (i.e. from z = 0 to a I , or from z = a i to d), and each pair
for x t x 4 
of resulting equations is then added to obtain eight sets of
Here Iw represents the incident wave potential which is final equations for A i m. This give rise to a matrix equation
given as for A 1m, A 2m, A 3m, .., A 8m as follows.

38 THE JOURNAL OF OCEAN TECHNOLOGY • Reviews & Papers

 ª ∞ (mn ) ∞
(mn ) .. ..
∞ ∞ º
« ¦C11 ¦ C12 ¦ C (mn )
17 ¦C18(mn ) »
«m = 0 m =0 m =0 m =0 » ­ A ½ ­b ½
« ∞ (mn ) ∞ ∞ ∞
(mn ) » ° 1m ° ° 1n °
« ¦C 21 ¦C 22(mn ) .. .. (mn )
¦ 27 ¦ 28 » °A2m ° °b2n °
C C
«m = 0 m =0 m =0 m =0 »
« .. .. .. .. .. .. » °° .. °° °° .. °°
« .. ® ¾=® ¾ (15)
.. .. .. .. .. » ° .. ° ° .. °
«∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ »
(mn )
¦C 72(mn ) (mn ) (mn ) ° A ° ° °
« ¦C 71
«m = 0
.. .. ¦C 77 ¦C 78 »» ° 7m ° °b7n °
m =0 m =0 m =0 °A ° °b °
«∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ » ¯ 8m ¿ ¯ 8n ¿
(mn )
« ¦C 81
«¬m = 0
¦C 82(mn ) .. .. ¦C 87(mn ) ¦C 88(mn ) »»
m =0 m =0 m =0 ¼

∞ Ocean Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras,

Each ¦Cijmn is a sub matrix whose elements are
(IIT Madras), India. A view of the fabricated breakwater
m =0

coefficients of A i m in the finally formulated set of eight
equations. Issacson et al. [1998; 1999] elaborate the
procedure.
(c) Numerical Solution
The matrix equation (15) is truncated to a finite
number of terms N, and thus becomes a complex matrix
equation of rank 8N that can be solved for the first N
unknown values of each set of coefficients A i m . The
transmission and reflection coefficients, denoted as
K t = H t / H i and K r = H r / H i respectively. Herein, H t , H r
and H i are the transmitted, reflected and incident wave
heights, respectively. These are given in terms of A 1m and
A 8m by K t = |A 80|, K r = |A 10|. The Energy dissipation
model for the laboratory studies is shown in Photo 1. The
piles were modeled with 63mm PVC pipes and a skirt was
modeled with 12mm thick marine plywood. The pipes and
plywood were fixed to a rigid steel frame made with
50 mm angle section. The submergence of the skirt and
spacing between the pile rows were adjustable. The pipes
were fixed at 1.33 times diameter D resulting in a porosity
described as ε = b / ( b + D ) = 25%, where b is the clear
space between pipes. The depth of submergence ( h ) of
both the skirts was kept equal.

coefficient ( K l ) is given by K l = 1− K r2 − K t2

4. EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION

The experiments pertaining to the present study were

carried out in a 2 m wide wave flume in the Department of Photo 1. Pile supported skirt breakwater model.

Building with Boxes, Vol. 2, No. 1, 2007 39

 Figure 3. Longitudinal section showing the position of the model and wave probes.
The salient details of the flume and the experimental
setup are shown in Figure 3. The water depth (d ) was
maintained constant as 1 m through out the tests. The
tests were conducted with wave height (H ) of 10 cm,
15 cm, and 20 cm for periods (T ) ranging from 1.25 to
2.25 sec with an interval of 0.25 sec. The time history of
wave elevation at 6 locations along the flume was
measured with wave probes. First, three probes were kept
in front of the model at a distance more than the longest
wave length considered in the testing program. The wave
transmission was measured by a probe kept at the rear
side of the model at a distance of about the longest wave
length considered for testing purpose. The spacing
between the first three probes was adjusted for each of the
wave period so as to calculate the reflection coefficient by
the three-probe method of Mansard and Funke [1980].
The wave run-up and wave height within the chamber
were measured by another pair of probes kept very close
to the front skirt and in between the skirts.
5. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Analytical and experimental studies have been carried
out for two rows of pile supported impermeable skirt
breakwater. The tests were done for two B / d ratios of 0.5
40 THE JOURNAL OF OCEAN TECHNOLOGY • Reviews & Papers
and 1.0 for a constant relative depth of submergence
h / d = 0.35. Additional tests were carried out for
h / d = 0.5 with B / d = 0.5. The tests covered a range of
kd (2πd / L ) up to about 2.6. The spacing of piles in a row
was kept constant at 1.33D centre to centre (where
b / D = 0.33 ), for all the tests, resulting in a porosity of
25% beneath the impermeable skirt. The comparisons
between the measured and numerical values of K r , K t ,
and K l as a function of kd for a constant h / d of 0.35 for
B / d = 0.5 and 1.0 are shown in Figure 4 and Figure 5,
respectively. In general the comparisons were found to be
good. The K t in both cases progressively decreased with
an increase in the kd. The K r in both cases initially
increased, followed by a decrease in its value with an
increase in kd. A further increase in kd beyond 1.4 for B /
d = 0.5 and 1.0 for B / d = 1 lead to a continuous
increase in the K r . The trend in the variations of K r , K t ,
and K l with kd for h / d = 0.5 and B / d = 0.5 shown in
Figure 6 was found to be similar. This undulating trend in
the variations, absent in the case of the single skirt
breakwater, to be discussed later, is due to the interaction
(and trapping) of wave energy with double skirts. The
energy dissipation, K l increased with an increase in kd and
reached a maximum at kd, where, K r is minimum and
decreased thereafter with increasing kd values.
Figure 4. Comparison of experimental and numerical results on the variations of Kr , Kt ,and Kl for impermeable skirt for
B /d = 0.5 and h /d = 0.5.

Figure 5. Comparison of experimental and numerical results on the variations of Kr , Kt , and K l for impermeable
skirt for B /d = 1 and h / d = 0.35.

Building with Boxes, Vol. 2, No. 1, 2007 41

 Figure 6. Comparison of experimental and numerical results on the variations of Kr , Kt , and K l for impermeable
skirt for B /d = 0.5 and h/d = 0.5.
The comparison of the experimental and the
numerical results on the variation of dimensionless wave
run-up, R u /Hi , (where, H i is the incident wave height) with
kd for different B / d and h / d projected in Figure 7 is
found to exhibit a reasonable comparison. It is observed
that the trend in the variation of run-up with kd is similar to
the variation of K r with kd as discussed earlier. A similar
comparison on the variation of dimensionless oscillation
H c / H I between the skirts (where H c is the height of water
oscillation in the interspaces) with kd for different B / d and
h / d shown in Figure 8 is found to again show a
reasonable comparison. In general, for low values of kd,
the wave height ratio, H c / H I is found to be close to unity
and, as kd increases. This ratio initially increases with an
increase in the kd and was found to decrease with a
further increase in kd. This is similar to observations for the
different B / d and h / d. Further, an increase in the B / d or
42 THE JOURNAL OF OCEAN TECHNOLOGY • Reviews & Papers
h / d leads to a shift in the transition zone towards lower
kd. Further, a comparison of the above two plots reveals
that the wave oscillations in between the skirts are higher
for lesser wave run-up. This is because longer waves, that
is, lesser kd travel past the first skirt without being
dissipated thereby resulting in an increase in the wave
oscillations within the skirts. Furthermore, the portion of
energy of the longer waves, traveling past the first skirt,
without being obstructed, distribute their energy vertically
over the region immediately behind the first skirt forming
turbulence and smaller waves, These waves reflected from
the second skirt are re reflected and get trapped between
the skirts, forming a standing wave when conditions are
favorable, resulting in increased wave oscillations within
the skirts. When the phases of the standing wave and
incident wave become exactly opposite, a reduction of R u
and K r occurs.
 Figure 7. Comparison of experimental and numerical results on the variation of wave Run-up with kd.

Figure 8. Comparison of experimental and numerical results on the variation of wave oscillation in between the
skirts with kd.

The foregoing discussion of the results has clearly
demonstrated the validity of the present numerical model.
A comparison of the variation of K t and K r with kd from
present numerical model with the experimental results of
Suh et al. [2006] for h / d = 0.2, 0.4 and 0.6 are shown in
Figure 9. The depth of water considered herein is 2.4 m,
the thickness of the barrier is 14.3 cm whereas the relative
clear spacing of the piles, b / D. is 1.0. The theoretical
results of Suh et al. [2006] are also superposed in the
corresponding plots. The results demonstrate a reasonable
comparison for kd greater than about 0.8. For kd less than
0.8, the numerical model of Suh et al. [2006] is found to

Building with Boxes, Vol. 2, No. 1, 2007 43

over predict the K r and under predicts the K t. This trend in properly represent the permeability parameter for lower
the variation of K t and K r with kd could be due to the values of kd as stated by these investigators in their
inability of the numerical model of Suh et al. [2006] to findings.

Figure 9. Comparison of single row pile supported skirt model with results of Suh et al. [2006] (symbols and
thin lines are experimental and numerical result reported by Suh et al. Thick lines are the result of the present
numerical model).

Figure 10. Different configurations of double row breakwaters.

44 THE JOURNAL OF OCEAN TECHNOLOGY • Reviews & Papers

 The validation of the present numerical model was
followed up with a parametric study to investigate the
hydrodynamic performance characteristics of the pile
supported double skirt breakwater in the form of K r and K t
as a function of kd. Three different configurations namely
skirt alone (case 1), piles alone (case 2), and pile supported
skirt (case 3) as shown in Figure 10 were considered for
the study. A comparison of the hydrodynamic performance
characteristics of these three configurations by
superposing the variations of H c / H i, K r and K t with kd for
the respective configurations for B / d = 0.5 and
h / d = 0.5 and b / D = 0.33 is brought out in Figure 11. It
is seen from the results that the variation in K r for case 1
and case 2 for kd up to about 1.3 is marginal, although,
case 3 experiences slightly higher K r. This is mainly
because of two factors; energy distribution in longer waves
is effective up to the bottom and the case 1 model does
not obstruct the flow beneath the skirt while the case 2
model allows transmission of energy over the entire depth
through the space between the piles. For the case 3
structure, the energy transmission in the top region is
completely curtailed by the skirt and flow beneath the skirt
is not free as in case 1 due to the presence of closely
spaced piles. For kd greater than 1.3, the model with piles
alone (case 2) is found to experience the least K r due to
the absence of any solid obstruction to reflect the incident
waves, near the top, where wave energy is concentrated
for medium/shorter waves. The H c / H i for case 2 is
almost unity for kd less than two, beyond which the
variation is found to be marginal, indicating the absence of
any trapped waves between the pile rows. The Hc / Hi for
case 1 and case 3 are identical and is more than that for
case 2, for kd less thn 1.15. The H c / Hi for case 3
decreases for kd greater than 1.2, whereas, for case 1, it
drastically increases with an increase in kd beyond 1.2,
with its peak occurring at the same value of kd for which
the K r was the least as stated earlier. The variation of
H c / H I for case 3 for kd greater than 1.5 is less compared
to that for the other two models.
The variation in K t with kd for the three cases
considered shows that K t is least for the case 3 (skirt and
pile). For a breakwater to be efficient, the most important
criterion of the least K t is thus fulfilled for this type of
configuration, showing the advantage of pile-supported
skirt breakwater over a pile breakwater and a skirt
breakwater. The skirt breakwater is almost transparent for
long period waves with kd less than 1.5. The contribution
of the closely spaced piles towards reducing the
transmission of long waves is found to be significant. The
pile-supported skirt breakwater is effective in controlling
the transmission of waves over the entire range of kd
values and waves can be reduced to less than 50% for
short period waves with kd greater than one. The
performance of both the skirt breakwater and the pile
supported skirt breakwater are identical for kd greater than
two, as the energy distribution beneath the skirt becomes
less, the contribution of the piles become insignificant.
The variations of K r and K t with kd for the breakwater
with a pair of skirts of identical depths of submergence for
B / d = 0.5 and b / D = 0.33 are shown in Figure 12. An
increase in the depth of submergence leads to a reduction
in K t, with the rate of decrease being less for kd less than
1.1 and significant for kd greater than 1.1. For kd greater
than 1.3, K r increases and K t decreases drastically with an
increase in h / d.
The studies on the wave transmission characteristics
of a double skirt of the same length were followed with
skirts of unequal lengths. The initial studies were carried
Building with Boxes, Vol. 2, No. 1, 2007 45
out with the relative submerged depth of the leeside skirt,
h 2 / d being maintained constant as 0.5, whereas, the
relative submerged depth of the seaside skirt, h 1 / d was
varied from 0.1 to 0.5 in steps of 0.1. For the above
conditions, the variations of K r and K t with kd are shown in
Figure 13 (a), whereas, the variations of H c / H i and K l
with kd are shown in Figure 13 (b). It is to be mentioned
that the K r and K t is for the structure as a whole. It is seen
that the effect of h 1 / d on K r and K t is insignificant for kd
less than about 1.0 due to the fact that herein, both the
skirts offer attenuation to long period waves. For kd greater
than about one, the K r increases with an increase in
h 1 / d , whereas, the variation in K t is not affected much.
The value for kd for which K r is minimum decreases as
h 1 / d increases. The reduction in h 1 / d allows the
penetration of the waves past the seaside skirt, resulting in
increased chamber oscillations. The variations of the H c / H
i and the loss coefficient, K l clearly shows that a decrease
in H c / H i with an increase in h 1 / d leads to lesser K l
showing that the dissipation would be less, thus giving rise
to increased K r for higher h 1 / d. The foregoing discussion
reveals that shallower seaside skirt and a deeper leeside
skirt would be a good proposition.

Figure. 11. Comparison of the hydrodynamic performance of three types of double row of breakwaters.

Figure 12. Effect of submergence of impermeable skirts for B / d = 0.5 and b /D = 0.33.

46 THE JOURNAL OF OCEAN TECHNOLOGY • Reviews & Papers

 Figure 13 (a). Effect of submergence of impermeable front skirt for B / d = 1, h 2 / d = 0.5 and b / D = 0.33.

Figure 13 (b). Effect of submergence of impermeable front skirt for B / d = 1, h 2 / d = 0.5 and b / D = 0.33.

The studies were further extended for the case of the
relative submerged depth of the seaside skirt, h 1 / d ,
being maintained constant as 0.5, whereas the relative
submerged depth of the leeside skirt, h 2 / d was varied
from 0.1 to 0.5 in steps of 0.1. For the above conditions,
the variations of K r and K t with kd are shown in Figure
14 (a), whereas, the variations of H c / H i and K l with kd
are shown in Figure 14 (b). The results show that none of
the parameters, K r, K t, K l and H c / H i are significantly
affected by the variation in thedepth of submergence of the
rear skirt.
In order to understand the effect of the relative
chamber width, B / L of the twin skirts of same length, the
variations of K r and K t as a function of B / L for kd varying
between 0.5 and 3.0 in steps of 0.5 for h / d = 0.2 and
0.5 are projected in Figure 15 (a) and Figure 15 (b),

Building with Boxes, Vol. 2, No. 1, 2007 47

respectively. It is observed that irrespective of value of kd,
and h / d the K t is found to be a minimum when B / L is
near 0.33. The propagation of higher frequency waves
presumably get reflected within the skirts in the case of
higher kd leading to an increase in the K r and a decrease
in K t.. The results suggest that the favorable B / L could be
around 0.33 to achieve the maximum advantage of the
double skirt breakwater in attenuating the incident waves.
An Increase in the h / d, however, leads to a substantial
decrease in the K t while the K r is observed to increase
drastically.

Figure 14 (a). Effect of submergence of rear impermeable on K r and K t with B / d = 1, h1 / d = 0.5 and b / D = 0.33.

Figure 14 (b). Effect of submergence of rear impermeable skirt on H c and K l with B / d = 1, h1 / d = 0.5 and
b / D = 0.33.

48 THE JOURNAL OF OCEAN TECHNOLOGY • Reviews & Papers

 Figure 15 (a). Effect of chamber width of equal impermeable skirt on K r and K t for h / d = 0.2.

Figure 15 (b). Effect of chamber width of equal impermeable skirt on K r and K t for h / d = 0.5.

The effect of porosity of the seaside skirt in the
presence of an impermeable leeside skirt, on the variations
of K t and K r are shown in Figure 16 (a). While, the K r is
found to decrease with an increase in the porosity, the K t
is found to marginally increase, particularly for kd greater
than one. The influence of porosity on reflection is reduced
with an increase in porosity. For the above said
configuration, the run-up on the sea side skirt and
chamber oscillations as a function of kd are shown in
Figure 16 (b). It is observed that run-up is governed by

Building with Boxes, Vol. 2, No. 1, 2007 49

reflection characteristics of the sea side skirt as seen in the
earlier figure. Further, as run-up is more for lesser porosity,
the transmission past the seaside skirt will be less resulting
in a reduction in chamber oscillations as porosity
decreases. The run-up decreases and chamber oscillation
increases with an increase in porosity. However, the
reduction in run-up is more significant than the increase in
chamber oscillations. For kd less than 0.9, the effect of
porosity on run-up or chamber oscillations is negligible.

Figure 16 (a). Effect of porosity of front skirt on K r and K t with impermeable rear skirt of equal submergence of

h / d = 0.5 for B / d = 1.

Figure 16 (b). Effect of porosity of front skirt on run-up Ru and Chamber oscillations Hc with impermeable rear skirt
of equal submergence of h / d = 0.5 for B / d = 1.

50 THE JOURNAL OF OCEAN TECHNOLOGY • Reviews & Papers

Figure 17 (a). Effect of chamber width and porosity on K r and K t for equal skirts of h / d = 0.35 and kd = 1.21.

Figure 17 (b). Effect of chamber width and porosity on Ru and Hc for equal skirts of h/d = 0.35 and kd = 1.21.

In order to understand the effect of porosity and function of B / L for porosity varying between 0% and 20%
chamber width of the twin skirts of same length, the for a particular kd = 1.21 are projected in Figure 17 (a)
variations of K r , K t run-up, and chamber oscillation as a and Figure 17 (b), respectively. The K r decreases and K t

Building with Boxes, Vol. 2, No. 1, 2007 51

increases with an increase in porosity. However, the REFERENCES
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