Experimental Investigation Of The Wave Trough Loads And Overturning Moments On Vertical Breakwaters

Natural sea wave is random as well as wave forces. Wave forces is one of main loads on vertical-type structures. According to current Chinese standards, design method of upright breakwaters is the Partial Coefficient Method, which is an approximate probability method based on reliability theory analysis and long-term practical experience. For the purpose of further perfecting reliability design method of vertical breakwaters, it’s an important key problem to ascertain distribution characteristics of wave forces. Research on wave loads all of the world mostly focus on wave peak forces. When there is bulldozer in the back of vertical structures, for directional agreement of wave pressure and soil pressure, it’s possible for structures to slip and overturn seawards. Therefore, it’s necessary to conduct further study on wave trough forces and overturning moments on vertical walls without overtopping waves.This paper recapitulated previous work about reliability design of port structures, probability distribution of wave loads as well as calculation of wave forces on vertical-type structures. The irregular wave model tests are conducted to systematically research statistical distribution and computing methods of wave forces, and wave pressure distribution on vertical breakwater under wave trough.This paper focuses on hydraulic characteristics of wave trough forces and overturning moments on upright breakwaters. First, it is presented that probability distributions of total horizontal irregular wave trough loads and overturning moments on vertical walls can be well expressed by Weibull distribution, and the effects of bedding factor, relative berm width and relative wave height on shape parameter a are discussed. Next, by use of the single dimensional correlation analysis method, the relationship between non-dimensional wave loads and the major influencing factors, such as relative berm width, bedding factor, relative wave height are established. Finally, the pressure distribution through the vertical wall when max wave trough forces occur in the condition of different wave forms, different bed scales and different depth of water have been presented. The test results could provide reference values for the engineering design and debugging of related wave flume numerical models.