Hydrodynamic Performance of Floating Breakwaters under Regular Wave

Floating breakwaters (FB) represent an alternative solution to protect coastal areas from wave attackand erosion. The major advantages of using floating breakwater in comparison to conventional fixedones are lower cost of construction, using in severe hydrodynamic conditions and high speedinstallation. Therefore, engineers lead to design and use floating breakwaters in those situation inwhich this type of breakwater is more suitable to construct. To predict floating breakwater behavior, itis essential to investigate flow characteristics in the vicinity of structure. In this regard, numericalmodeling is presented based on the solutions of 2DV Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS)equations and the VOF method using in Fluent Software.To generate wave, a sub-model has been developed and hooked to the main software. Results obtainedfrom the numerical model then validated by experimental data cited in the literature to represent thecapability of model in simulation of complicated problems. Numerical modeling shows that the singlefixed FB operates well but, the attached plate in the front part of the FB significantly enhances theefficiency of the structure and with regard to cost-effectiveness, the configuration of the FB with theattached plate should be considered for design purposes. Also, double FBs and trapezoidal ones withinclined faces of different angles are simulated. It is found that the trapezoidal FBs are the mostefficient in comparison to the other types of FBs.