Cost Comparative Study of the H-Type Floating Breakwater

This study was to determine and compare the cost between the breakwaters, including
the conventional and the floating breakwater, with respect to the material cost.
Information of various kind of breakwaters were gathered from the past researches and
were used in this cost comparative analysis. Four main objectives were being focused,
which were (i) to account the unit cost of the conventional breakwaters, (ii) to analyze
the unit cost of the floating breakwaters, (iii) to estimate the unit cost material of H-Float
model, and (iv) to conduct a cost comparative study of the H-Float against other types of
floating breakwaters. Based on the study case of total water depth of 12.9 m and wave
period of 8 seconds, the Y- frame breakwater takes the lowest estimation material cost
(US $ 5556), followed by H-Float (US $ 9495), box-type (US $ 11925) and the
conventional rubblemound breakwater (US $ 33898). This difference was mainly due to
the different in sizing of the breakwater to perform the same performance (coefficient
transmission, Ct = 0.5), thus inducing different material cost. However, although the
material cost of the H-Float is slightly higher than the Y-frame breakwater, the use of Hfloat
as a wave defense structure is also economically suitable to be implemented in
future. More extensive research on this topic is also recommended.