Study of Overtopping Flow Velocity and Overtopping Layer Thickness on Composite Breakwater under Regular Wave

Abstract

Overtopping flow velocity (OFV) and overtopping layer thickness (OTL) are essential parameters in breakwater design. Several empirical equations to predict these parameters are available in many works of literature, but most of the equations were derived based on impermeable structures such as sea dikes. In this study, we experimented with overtopping waves over a composite breakwater with tetrapod armor units. In the experiments, wave overtopping was generated from regular waves. We used a digital image-based velocimetry method, bubble image velocimetry (BIV), to measure the OFV and digitize the corresponding image to obtain the OLT. The patterns of OFV and OTL with respect to time steps, wave conditions, and corresponding events were provided and discussed. The application of the widely used empirical equations for sea dike to breakwater was also tested by calibrating the coefficients. New empirical coefficients and roughness factors were suggested to reduce the difference between predicted and measured OFV and OLT on breakwater through the bootstrap resampling technique. This study provides modified empirical equations on wave overtopping, which is further applicable to breakwater design.