An experimental study on the performance of combined membrane breakwaters against incident waves

A series of experimental model tests are conducted to investigate the performance of a combined membrane breakwater consisting of horizontal and vertical flexible membranes against regular and irregular incident waves. A dimensional analysis is carried out to determine the dimensionless parameters used to study the performance of the breakwater. The dependence of the reflection, transmission and dissipation coefficients on non-dimensional breakwater design parameters and wave characteristics such as membrane porosity, submergence depth, membrane length, mooring line stiffness, number of vertical membranes, spacing between horizontal and vertical membranes, spacing between vertical membranes, wave period, and wave height are analysed. Further, the efficiency of the present combined membrane breakwater is analysed by comparing different membranes combinations under different wave conditions. The analysis of the reflection and transmission coefficients as well as the dissipation coefficient of the proposed breakwater will be helpful for better designing of combined membrane protecting infrastructures in coastal and ocean engineering.