Experimental study on the performance of the multiple-layer breakwater

Based on the idea of disturbing the water motion in the upright direction, a new kind of multiple-layer breakwater is proposed in this article, which mainly consists of several horizontal plates. The breakwater's performance of dissipating waves has been investigated in detail in the regular wave tests. The factors identified with the characteristics of the breakwater are discussed, such as the relative width, the wave steepness and the models geometrical parameters (the width and the gap). The comparison and analysis of the transmission and reflection coefficients with respect to different factors are presented. The model test results indicate that the multiple-layer breakwater has the good characteristic of dissipating waves. Further more, only in a little extent can it reflect the waves. The multiple-layer breakwater proposed in the paper is very significative to promote the open type breakwater to be the permanent wave attenuator in the application.