Experimental Studies on Wave Attenuation of an Innovative Multipurpose Submerged Breakwater (M-Sub)

Submerged breakwaters have been widely used for the protection of coastal
habitats. However, as with the many designs in the market, there have been mixed
reviews on the current array of submerged breakwaters. Hence, there is definitely
room for innovations. A multipurpose submerged breakwater (M-Sub) is designed
staggered to study the wave transmission effects of its corresponding vortices and
turbulence. In its conceptual stage, it is suitable for areas of moderate/low wave
energy climate. Besides being a possible solution to coastal erosion, it holds
potential as a fish habitat enhancer. This study is designed to investigate the
transmissive abilities (in terms of transmission coefficient, K1) of this innovative
breakwater shape. The objective is to obtain experimental data and wave
attenuating abilities of the model subjected to regular and random waves in an array
of wave parameters and structure porosity.Results from the 144 tests conducted
revealed good resemblance with the expected trend calculated using d'Angremond.
TheM-Sub worked best for the wave height of 0.18 m and wave period of 1.12 s,
whereas its porous version was found to return a lower K1 value when tested with
0.16 m waves. Nevertheless, additional experiments should be conducted to
enhance the initial findings by including more variables such as wave variability
and structure configurations.