Journal of Ocean Engineering and Marine Energy

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40722-021-00209-8

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Numerical and experimental investigations of wave transmission

behind a submerged WABCORE breakwater in low wave regime
Sheikh Fakhruradzi Abdullah1 · Ahmad Fitriadhy1 · Safari Mat Desa2

Received: 3 January 2021 / Accepted: 14 July 2021

© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021

Abstract
In the presence of the complex-hydrodynamic phenomenon, the previous studies on wave transmission characteristics behind
low-crested submerged breakwaters are still insufficient yet to appropriately understand of their behaviour. Therefore, a
reliable prediction through a computational fluid dynamic (CFD) approach of waves across the structure is necessarily
required. This paper presents three-dimensional (3D) computational modelling on hydrodynamic performance of narrow
crest behind submerged breakwater aimed at gaining a comprehensive insight into the wave transmission coefficient (K t )
characteristics. Meanwhile, a two-dimensional (2D) analysis has been initially carried out to provide a satisfactory description
of the fundamental hydrodynamic phenomena through capturing the patterns of wave surface profile, flow velocity, and wave
energy dissipation. In addition, a numerical wave tank model is well developed on the basis of the extended Reynolds Average
Navier–Stokes (RANS) solver incorporated with level set algorithm to treat highly nonlinear effects at interface boundary
between water, air and porous obstacle. Here, a submerged breakwater called as wave breaker coral restorer (WABCORE)
designed by the National Water Research Institute of Malaysia is then employed. Based on the capability of laboratory
experiment, the tested wave parameters were properly selected in 1:4 scaled model of the breakwater for wave height
ranging from 0.10 to 0.25 m and wave period ranging from 1.5 to 2.5 s, in which correspond to the recorded wave prototype
characteristics at Island of Tinggi, Malaysia. Thus, the wave constraints on a regime of small wave height and wavelength were
then considered for various relative significant incident wave height, wave steepness, relative structural crest width and water-
depth and have been taken into account in the computational simulation of the transmission coefficient (K t ). The result shows
that a good agreement was obtained between numerical and experimental measurements. K t decreases to less than 0.5 with
increasing relative water depth (0.40 ≤ h/d ≤ 1.00) for significant incident wave height (0.1338 ≤ Hs /d ≤ 0.5547), wave
steepness (0.0164 ≤ Hs /L ≤ 0.1303), and crest width of breakwater (0.0256 ≤ Cw /L ≤ 0.0512). Detailed investigation
suggests that the result is attributed to significant wave transformation in the vicinity of breakwater, especially for higher h/d.
Furthermore, the wave absorbing effect of the submerged WABCORE breakwater is markedly better for increased steepness
of Hs /L from 0.0292 to 0.0204 at h/d = 1.00, which is consistent with the augmented turbulent energy and dissipation
shown on CFD visualizations across the breakwater entanglement.

Keywords Submerged breakwater · Wave transformation · Transmission coefficient · Hydrodynamic modelling

1 Introduction

Breakwaters are wave protection measures primarily applied

B Ahmad Fitriadhy
to protect beach from severe erosion. The typical breakwa-
naoe.afit@gmail.com
ters may appear in emerged (Dean and Dalrymple 2001)
Sheikh Fakhruradzi Abdullah
sfakhruradzi@gmail.com or submerged (Black and Mead 2001; Jackson et al. 2002)
forms, and usually build in permanent constructions such
1 Program of Maritime Technology, School of Ocean as quarried rocks, concrete caissons etc. In comparison to
Engineering, University Malaysia Terengganu, 21030 Kuala the emerged counterpart, the submerged breakwaters have
Terengganu, Malaysia
become one of the prominent structures to preserve beach
2 National Hydraulic Research Institute of Malaysia amenity and aesthetic values, which is purposely in line
(NAHRIM), Seri Kembangan, Selangor, Malaysia

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 Journal of Ocean Engineering and Marine Energy

with the residential coastal developments. The basic rea- Furthermore, a qualitative validation on the wave absorb-
son for this conjecture is that the submerged breakwaters are ing effects of the breakwater beyond shorter waves such as
able to dissipate the energy of incident waves, which occurs induced wave energy dissipation has been somewhat lacking
through minimising friction and drag forces, wave break- in that the inadequate understanding of the complexities due
ing, and over-topping. This inherently results in reduction to highly non-linear flow.
of wave reflection coefficient (K r ) and transmission of wave Application of porous breakwaters such as rubble mounds
coefficient (K t ). Therefore, a further investigation on the sub- and artificial reefs are widely imperative in the coastal
merged breakwater performance at various wave properties engineering field since they are mostly efficient at min-
is necessarily required. imizing wave reflection and transmission (Huang et al.
The wave breaking over a low-crested submerged break- 2003). Recent study shows that nonlinear effects of porous
water is one of the important structural working principles at medium induces a significant attenuation in the propaga-
reducing wave energy transmission (K t ) behind the struc- tion of the wave height and spatial velocities approximately
ture. Hashim et al. (2014) analysed the effects of wave 30% and 50% respectively, quantified in an experimental
periods, significant incident wave heights and narrow struc- investigation of oscillatory waves over porous bed (Cor-
tural crest width of the submerged breakwater at various varo et al. 2014). This shows that the porosity of structures
water depth conditions. The results revealed that the wave is another prominence parameter to reduce wave forces,
energy diminished in the lee-side of the structure by virtue even small difference in porosity exists this may cause
of boundary friction, breaking and reflection. In the mod- large force difference for induced energy dissipation. There-
elling of sea-dome marine structure, Srisuwan and Payom fore, investigation of flow fields in and around the porous
(2015) found that wave energy reduction of 50% occurs breakwater and associated turbulence dissipation can not be
in the interaction of sea dome with respect to the gener- omitted.
ated incident waves. In addition, the experimental results This paper presents investigation of wave transmission
indicated that the innovative coastal defence structures can behind a narrow crest submerged breakwater (see Fig. 1),
efficiently dissipate the energy of incoming waves by the known as wave breaker coral restorer (WABCORE) in a
action of large-scale bottom unevenness (rigid blades cov- low wave regime via computational fluid dynamic (CFD)
ering the lower half of the water depth) (Lorenzoni et al. and experimental approaches. The CFD model is based on
2010) the Navier–Stokes equation with volume of fluid method
Despite numerous researches, the wave attenuating effect (VOF), and including k − ε turbulence model. Here, the
of submerged breakwater on wave transmission, K t is still application of porous model and level set method to account
unclear especially beyond shorter wave period, which lends for non-linearity in the modelling of complex free surface,
itself to being interested topic of studies. Several hydrody- and involving large turbulence flow problem is proposed
namic parameters were properly investigated; whilst most and indicated as the novelty contribution of the present
of the studies had been in small-scale facilities (Van der study. A series of experimental studies conducted for various
Meer et al. 2005; Díaz-Carrasco et al. 2020; Higuera et al. wave parameters of relative water depth, significant inci-
2014; Buccino et al. 2014) and based on potential flow model dent wave height, wave period, and structural crest width to
(Mizutani et al. 1998; Yong and Hua-Jun 2012; Losada et al. produce significant results on transmission coefficient, K t .
1996). Experimental tests are occasionally restricted to sev- It is worth to note here that the selected wave parameters
eral aspects that is difficult to validate some parameters such for wave height and wave period had been corresponded to
as generated turbulent dissipation and kinetic energy. Corre- the prototype of wave characteristics captured at Island of
spondingly, the transmission coefficient associated with the Tinggi, Malaysia. The systems of technological device con-
viscous and nonlinear effects such as vortices, turbulence and sists of Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCP) were
boundary layer separation cannot be simply described using deployed for 30 days at a distance of 700 m from the
potential flow theory. Tinggi’s shoreline for wave data acquisition to study the
Since the efficiency of the submerged breakwaters is a character of the coastal impact. Based on the recorded wave
function of complex design parameters between waves and data and laboratory capability, the model scale of 1:4 was
structures, the current technology is rarely performed, yet the then selected. Therefore, the tested model wave height rang-
presented approaches seemed insufficient developed partic- ing from 0.10 to 0.25 m and tested wave period ranging
ularly to capture the nonlinear interaction effects between from 1.5 to 2.5 s for the prototype of wave height rang-
wave motion and breakwater. This means that a proper ing from 0.40 to 1.00 m and wave period ranging from
analysis in the vicinity of an overtopped-porous submerged 3 to 5 s, indicated as the main constraints in the present
breakwater using both two and three dimensional modelling study. In addition, the numerical model was properly vali-
at gaining further insight on the characteristics of generated dated by comparing the numerical results to measurements,
wave transformation and wave transmission has been scarce. in which the model can simulate fairly well on the sub-

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Fig. 1 WABCORE model;

assembly model (above) and
single model (below), where
each of WABCORE length is
250 mm

merged structure. Besides that several nonlinear effects of ∂θ γx u ∂θ γz v

+ =0 (1)
wave transformation and wave field include the character- ∂x ∂z
istics of surface water profile, water particle velocity and ∂θ u ∂θ u ∂θ u
λv + λx θ u + λz θ v
turbulent energy dissipation are appropriately captured in ∂t ∂x ∂z
 
CFD and described in detail relative to the characteristics −γv θ ∂ P ∂ ∂θ u
= +θ γx 2 (ν + νt )
of K t . ρ ∂x ∂x ∂x
  
∂ ∂θ u ∂θ u
+θ γz (ν + νt ) + − Rx (2)
∂z ∂z ∂x
2 Numerical model ∂θ v ∂θ v ∂θ v
λv + λx θ u + λz θ v
∂t ∂x ∂z
 
2.1 Governing equations of fluid flow −γv θ ∂ P ∂ ∂θ v
= +θ γz 2 (ν + νt ))
ρ ∂z ∂z ∂y
A numerical model based on the Reynolds Average Navier–   
∂ ∂θ v ∂θ u
Stokes (RANS) equations coupled with k − ε turbulence +θ γx (ν + νt ) + − γv g − R z ,
∂x ∂x ∂z
closure model and the volume of fluid (VOF) method is pre- (3)
sented in this research. For simulating wave motion across
permeable breakwater, the fluid inertia and drag resistances
were introduced into the continuity and momentum conser- where u and v are the mean velocity components of fluid
vation equations, rewritten as in the Cartesian coordinate x and z directions respectively,

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t is time, gravitational acceleration is denoted by g, ν and transport equation for volume fraction of fluid, F, defining
νt are respective fluid and eddy viscosities. Fluid density is free surface boundaries and fluid configuration in the free
denoted by ρ and P represents the mean pressure. θ is the surface cells is described as (Hirt and Billy 1981)
parameter of partial cell treatment in specialised two-phase
flow (Torey et al. 1985). Values of θ modifies the quanti- ∂θ (γv F) ∂ (γx F) ∂ (γz F)
+ θu + θv = 0. (10)
ties of fluid flow in the continuity and momentum equations ∂t ∂x ∂z
specifically due to a specified breakwater boundary inside the
computational domain. Besides in the model, the geometry The advection equations for variable densities of air, ρa and
of the immersed breakwater is defined as a porous obsta- water, ρw as well viscosities of air, νa and water, νw can be
cle with undeformed boundary. For geometric properties expressed using the fraction VOF function as follows:
(Sakakiyama and Kajima 1992), γv is volume porosity, γx
and γz are surface porosities defined as the ratio of porous ρ = (1 − F) ρa + Fρw (11)
area over sectional area of the cell surface. Here, γv = 0.03 is v = (1 − F) νa + Fνw . (12)
used, which is calculated from the ratio of total void volume
to total solid volume of breakwater structure. The parameters In addition, smoothing of density and viscosity functions
λv , λx and λz are defined from γv , γx and γz , respectively, as is necessarily employed at the interface to allow a large gra-
λ = γ + (1 − γ ) Cm , where Cm is the inertia coefficient. Rx dient ratio between water and air using level set function
and Rz are the drag force components in the x − z direction (Sussman et al. 1994; Khenner et al. 2001) particularly due
respectively, defined as to the nonlinear effects of viscous friction and drag, thus
avoiding numerical instability.
1 CD 
Rx = (1 − γx ) u u 2 + v 2 (4)
2 x 2.2 Boundary condition
1 CD 
Rz = (1 − γz ) v u 2 + v 2 , (5) The computational domain and dimension of the developed
2 z
numerical wave tank have been appropriately set up as shown
where C D is the drag coefficient, and x , z are the mesh in Fig. 2. The nested computational grid was used in the
sizes in corresponding components, respectively. The val- horizontal and vertical components of domain towards the
ues of Cm and C D can be calibrated using numerical and internal obstacle. The CFD code applied in this current mod-
experimental data of wave transmission to find appropriate elling requires art and experience of the modellers, and it
resistances. Here, Cm = 0.5 and C D = 3.5 were selected for is believed that the above setup configuration and follow-
all simulations. The transport equations of turbulence model ing boundary conditions are sufficient for accuracy of CFD
are given as (Scannapieco and Harlow 1995) results, for example, to enable two or more wave cycles
before and after the crown of immersed obstacle. On the
∂θ k ∂θ k ∂θ k inflow boundary, the Dirichlet-type boundary condition is
+ θu + θv
∂t ∂x ∂z used to generate the wave into the domain. Additionally, the
     
∂ νt ∂θ k ∂ νt ∂θ k weakly reflecting boundary condition is applied to this inflow
= ν+ + ν+ Pr − ε
∂x σk ∂ x ∂z σk ∂z and outflow boundary to reduce intermixing to the unphysi-
(6) cal reflected waves. The expression for the inflow boundary
∂θ ε ∂θ ε ∂θε is given as (Petit et al. 1995)
+ θu + θu
∂t ∂x ∂z
     
∂ νt ∂θ ε ∂ νt ∂θε ∂ϕ ∂ϕ ∂ϕi ∂ϕi
= ν+ + ν+ −C = −C (13)
∂x σε 2∂ x ∂z σε ∂z ∂t ∂x ∂t ∂x

ε ε
+Cε1 (Pr ) − Cε2 ε (7) while for the outflow boundary
k k
  2     
∂θ u ∂θv 2 ∂θ u ∂θ v 2
Pr = νt 2 +2 + + ∂ϕ ∂ϕ
∂x ∂z ∂z ∂x +C = 0, (14)
∂t ∂x
(8)
  where ϕi is the variables of incident wave signals, C is the
k2
νt = C d (9) wave celerity, and ϕ is the computed spatial variables. Using
ε
the partial cell treatment technique, the permeable break-
where k is the turbulent kinetic energy, Pr is the production water is created at the middle by flagging those cells of a
of turbulence kinetic energy and ε is the turbulent dissipation mesh that are to be blocked out. Further in this internal obsta-
rate. Cd , Cε1 , Cε2 , σk and σε are the model constants. The cle boundary, the non-slip boundary condition for velocities,

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Fig. 2 Computational domain

pressures and F is properly applied. At the bottom, the free- 3 Experimental investigation
slip rigid wall is taken as the boundary condition, while an
open boundary condition is applied for the top. Besides at the A series of laboratory experiments were carried out in a 2D
free surface, the turbulence boundary conditions are assumed glass-walled flume at the laboratory of National Hydraulic
with zero vertical fluxes of k and ε. Research Institute of Malaysia (NAHRIM). The wave flume
is 50.0 m length, 1.5 m width and 2.0 m height, as shown
in Fig. 3. Based on the capability of testing facility, wave
conditions and structural parameters, the model scale of 1:4
2.3 Numerical schemes was adopted for the whole hydrodynamic physical model-
ings. The bottom of the wave flume is flat, and a piston-type
The partial differential equations from Eqs. (1) to (10) are wave paddle is installed to generate waves at the closed end
solved to obtain the solution of the unknown variables u, v, of the flume. On the other end of the wave flume, a wave
p, F, k and ε. Here, the finite difference method is employed absorber made of a rubble mound is used to reduce the effects
and the time evolution of the unknown variables is advanced of wave reflection. A submerged WABCORE breakwater is
based on the Simple Implicit Method for pressure-linked located about 35 m and 15 m between the wave maker and
equations (SIMPLE ) algorithm. For one computational wave absorber respectively. The structure is 0.91 m length,
cycle, the velocity components are first approximated using 1.46 m width and 0.50 m height with 0.03 porosity. Here,
Eqs. (2) and (3) by neglecting the effects of pressure change. porosity is the ratio of total void volume to total solid vol-
The advection terms of these equations are discretized using ume of the breakwater. Regular monochromatic wave forces
a combination of the first order upwind central-differencing produce consistent wave magnitude and amplitude that were
scheme, while the diffusion terms are discretized using the controlled by the sensor gauge at the wave paddle, which
second order central-differencing scheme. The pressure field were then calibrated in the flume before the model was built
is then updated by iteratively adjusting the approximated to ensure that the incident wave measurements recorded by
velocity components until satisfying the continuity equation, array of wave probe are not corrupted by reflected waves.
Eq. (1), where the successive over relaxation (SOR) method Three wave probes, labelled as WP1, WP2 and WP3, respec-
is used. The calculated new velocity are then updated by tively, were installed at 25, 30 and 32 m down the flume from
taking into account the effects of pressure change. Using the wave paddle, whilst WP4 and WP5 were set at 2 and 5
Eqs. (6)–(9), the turbulence field components k, ε and vt are m after the centre line of WABCORE. For the regular wave
computed where the same discretization schemes as in the calibrations, a wave train of 50 fully developed waves were
first step is used. For each cell, the new F-value is updated run and the wave heights derived from the average of each
using the donor–acceptor algorithm, in which the new free max and min, peak and trough pair in each single wave were
surface configuration is reconstructed based on the new F- recorded. A series of parametric studies were conducted to
values. The boundary conditions are applied in each step. test the effectiveness of submerged WABCORE breakwater
And, the new and next cycles are done by repeating all these as a wave breaker on coefficient of transmission, K t . Several
steps until the computational time is exceeded.

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Fig. 3 Experimental setup;

perspective view (above) and
side view (below)

wave heights, wave periods and water depths were examined Table 1 Environmental conditions of parametric study
in the experiment, ranging from 0.10 m to 0.25 m, 1.50 s Wave heights, Hs (m) Wave periods, T (s) Water depths, d (m)
to 2.50 s and 0.50 m to 1.25 m, respectively, as depicted in
Table 1. Meanwhile, the structural height was kept constant 0.10 1.50 0.50
at h = 0.50, corresponding to relative water depths, h/d = 0.15 1.75 0.75
1.00, 0.67, 0.50 and 0.40 for the whole test conditions. 0.20 2.00 1.00
0.25 2.50 1.25

4 Results and discussion

and structural crest width with several relative water depths
Figures 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 show the results of wave transmis- on the attribute of K t . Simultaneously, the capability of the
sion coefficient and numerical modelling are successfully presented mathematical model is demonstrated of validating
computed in this study. The discussions are focused on the and capturing some highly nonlinear phenomena of wave
effects of significant incident wave height, wave steepness, transformations in the vicinity of submerged WABCORE

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the computational uncertainty for the medium mesh under

monotonous convergence is estimated to be −0.002170%.
Here, the medium resolution is clearly sufficient to enable
efficient CFD simulation. In addition, the effectiveness of
a breakwater depends largely on its induced hydrodynamics
effects such as friction to wave motion, reflection and dissipa-
tion of incoming wave that ultimately control the attribute of
transmission coefficient, defined as the ratio of the transmit-
ted wave height (Ht ) to the significant incident wave height
(Hs ),

Ht
Kt = . (15)
Hs

Thus, a sufficient model is necessarily needed to reproduce

Fig. 4 Attribute of transmission coefficient for numerical and labora- the aforementioned nonlinear hydrodynamic effects espe-
tory modelling cially at preliminary design stage. For this purpose, the results
of K t for numerical model are compared to the experimental
measurement for h/d = 1.00, and various Hs /L conditions,
as shown in Fig. 4. In addition, detailed results of the calcu-
lated K t are presented in Table 2. It should be noted that at this
particular h/d, many nonlinear interaction effects between
wave motion and breakwater were occurred including wave
breaking and overtopping as a result of water elevation very
near to the crest of submerged breakwater. Here, the water
surface elevations for spatial variation of wave heights (Hs
and Ht ) are computed using a mathematical expression of

jmax −1
η(t) = Fj z − d, (16)
j=2

where jmax − 1 and j = 2 are the upper and lower bounds of

Fig. 5 Transmission coefficient for various significant incident wave computational domain, respectively. In Fig. 4, the results gen-
height erally showed that a qualitative and quantitative agreement
was obtained between numerical results and the experimental
data. Besides that, it is worth to notice the wave absorb-
breakwater. The pertaining discussions are appropriately pre- ing effect of submerged WABCORE breakwater in a region
sented in the following sections. of Hs /L < 0.03. The model is capable to estimate further
reduction in K t in longer wave for the same wave height.
4.1 Model validation A possible reason for this acceptable prediction can be ded-
icated to the accounted nonlinear effects on the interaction
The significance of computational modelling of viscous flow between wave and the breakwater, as formulated in detail
to answer some specific questions on fluid-structure inter- numerical model descriptions. Here, the results discrepancies
action phenomena is widely recognized by CFD modellers. between numerical simulation and experimental counterpart
In this study, the CFD model will be used to validate and are approximately from 1.03 to 8.71%. This investigation
describe some important wave conditions on hydrodynamics reveals that the numerical model can accurately predict wave
of submerged breakwater. Prior to this, the mesh conver- transformations around a submerged WABCORE breakwa-
gence study according to the manual of the 28th International ter.
Towing Tank Conference (ITTC 2017) was deliberately car-
ried out to estimate the convergence uncertainty of CFD 4.2 Relative wave height
results. The transmission coefficient was calculated using
total numbers of coarse (3332000), medium (4032000), Sediment erosion is basically associated with breaking of
and fine (4128000) cell meshing. The result shows that greater wave height (high wave energy) that eventually

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Fig. 6 Characteristics of wave profile for Hs /L = 0.0292 and h/d = 1.00

causes the transport of sediment by induced currents. Fur- found around this breakwater boundary. Losada et al. (1996)
ther, the amplitude of incident wave plays an important role suggested that the flow separation and generation of vortices
in determining the formation of fully or partially standing become important around the sharp corners of breakwater
wave in front of structure that affects the scour and deposi- obstacles. For h/d = 1.00, K t significantly reduces to a
tion around breakwater’s toe. Breakwater scour, in particular value less than 0.50 at maximum Hs /d. A reason behind this
can severely impair structural functionality. trend is due to the effect of wave shoaling and wave fields
Figure 5 shows the effect of relative significant incident around submerged WABCORE breakwater, as depicted in
wave height (Hs /d) on the characteristics of K t at several Fig. 6. Note that in the figure capture, the computed wave
submergence depths (h/d). The results show that at h/d = profiles are basically reproduced using volume fraction of
0.40 and low amplitude of incident wave, K t is very high with fluid, F, where 0 < F ≤ 1.
values near to 1.00 especially at Hs /d < 0.25, which indi- At t/T = 2.60, the pulsating wave starts to approach
cates that most wave energies were transmitted. Inversely, K t submerged breakwater, and the wave profile then becomes
gradually decreases as wave height increases. This means that shoal at t/T = 2.80, in which a phenomenon of wave run
the breakwater is more efficient for larger waves regardless up can be seen at the crest of breakwater at t/T = 3.00. It
of h/d conditions and wave height is one of the important should be noted that the location between antinode and node,
factors for wave attenuation. Furthermore, the similar trend as well halfway of standing wave occur at respective L/4
continues for others h/d = 0.50 and h/d = 0.67 condi- and L/8 from the face of breakwater. In fact, large variation
tions. This reduction of K t can be attributed to nonlinear of water particle velocities occurs at these node positions.
effects such as more wave−structure contact and friction Just after a certain time of wave run up upon the breakwa-
and more water overtopping over narrow-width of breakwa- ter, a plunging breaker develops on the antinode location
ter, where large variation of wave and velocity fields can be (x/L = −0.0177) at t/T = 3.20 and the phenomena of

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Fig. 7 Instantaneous velocity vectors around breakwater for wave cycle

waves propagate shoreward with the magnitude and phase

differ from the fundamental wave, which may be a reason
for tremendous reduction of K t . Besides that, a slight aug-
mentation in wave height is detected near antinode location
(x/L = −0.3676) after occurrence of the seaward return
flow at t/T = 3.40. The phenomenon can be explained due
to the effects of reflected wave and the overturning wave crest
during the wave breaking process. Moreover, the numerical
predictions of the wave profile changes are similar to the
observation of the characteristic of plunging breakers over
submerged reef by Mayilvahanan et al. (2015). Generally, the
wave transformation near the curved and overtopping case of
the obstacle boundary has demonstrated a consistency with
the classical theory of partially standing wave formation.
Detail analysis on the velocity vector fields in the vicinity
Fig. 8 Transmission coefficient for various wave steepness of breakwater is presented in Fig. 7. It is clearly shown that
the vortices and flow separation are observed during the entire
process of wave propagation especially at the upper portion
wave set down and set up appear soon with overtopped water of the obstacle. In particular, the high anti-clockwise vortices
beyond this cycle at t/T = 3.40 and t/T = 3.60, respec- significantly develop just after wave breaking, where vortex
tively. At the end of complete one wave cycle, the water shedding is markedly observed at top and rear portions of the
wave elevation is extremely diminish and the transmitted breakwater beyond t/T = 3.00. At these locations of antin-

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Table 2 Validation results on the transmission coefficient face of the breakwater at halfway location between nodes
Hs /L K t (numerical) K t (experimental) Error (%) whirling in clockwise direction, excepting at t/T = 3.60.
When t/T = 3.60, high vortices are observed on the face,
0.0204 0.6079 0.6197 −0.01955 that may be a reason for the augmented wave height found in
0.0292 0.6270 0.6206 0.0103 Fig. 6. This numerical analysis suggests that the generation
0.0342 0.5503 0.5983 −0.0871 of vortex and flow separation are predominantly caused by
0.0488 0.5500 0.5412 0.061 the formation of boundary layer and viscous friction from the
0.0507 0.5447 0.5243 0.0374 nonlinear wave−structure interaction effects. In conclusion,
0.0597 0.5250 0.5002 0.0473 wave height parameter has a significant effect on the wave
attenuation by submerged WABCORE breakwater especially
at minimum water depth, in which large wave transformation
ode (x/L = −0.0177) and halfway (x/L = −0.1008), the in terms of wave breaking, reflection and other complex wave
absolute value of the vertical velocity of water particles keeps phenomena can be satisfactorily reproduced by the numerical
reaching the maximum value until t/T = 3.60. This is due model.
to the fact that the velocity speed tends to accelerate around
curved boundary of obstacle as compared to wave particle 4.3 Wave steepness
velocity. However, at the rear beyond the submerged break-
water, the magnitude of the water particle velocity is seen to Wave steepness, Hs /L is known to significantly affect the
be relatively low due to the effect of wave energy dissipation. coefficient of transmission (K t ). In general, a greater Hs /L
On the other hand, the low vortices can be seen across left indicates shorter wave period, and this allows friction to

Fig. 9 Wave absorbing effect of submerged WABCORE breakwater in a characteristics of energy dissipation pattern. Wave condition: Hs /L =
0.0292, h/d = 1.00

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Fig. 10 Wave absorbing effect of submerged WABCORE breakwater in a characteristics of energy dissipation pattern. Wave condition: Hs /L =
0.0204, h/d = 1.00

wavelength at the WABCORE crest. With increased wave Hs /L < 0.02 and Hs /L < 0.03, as depicted in Figs. 9
period though more wave energy are produced that has more and 10 . The turbulent dissipations of wave energy are
potential for the wave to pass over the structure, in which entirely observed at the upper, rear and internal portions
K t simultaneously increases. Therefore, it is vital to exam- of the breakwater for the whole range of wave cycle con-
ine the effectiveness of submerged WABCORE breakwater sidered. In particular, as the wave energy increases (from
beyond shorter waves. In Fig. 8, the K t value is 0.4451 for Hs /L = 0.0292 to Hs /L = 0.0204), the dissipation rate
H s/L = 0.0889 and h/d = 1.00 . At deeper water depth, markedly increases, supported by reduced K t in Fig. 8. It
h/d = 0.67 shows larger value of K t at 0.4842. K t tends should be noted that the development of the energy dissipa-
to escalate at h/d = 0.50 and h/d = 0.40, with values of tion in Figs. 9 and 10 is consistent with the positions of vortex
0.6607 and 0.7203, respectively. A possible reason for this formation and boundary layer separation, observed in Fig. 7,
trend is because of the less effect on the wave transforma- especially for Hs /L = 0.0292 case.
tions since most of the wave energies are concentrated at At the upper portion of breakwater, the wave energy dis-
the water surface. Again, a similar trend can be observed for sipates greatly at locations of plunging breaker for both
more long wave, where K t value reaches 0.99 at h/d = 0.40. Hs /L = 0.0292 in Fig. 9 and Hs /L = 0.0204 in Fig. 10
K t decreases linearly with decrement in water depth up to at t/T = 3.20 and t/T = 2.60, respectively. One of the
0.6856 at h/d = 1.00. It can be concluded in Fig. 8 that the reasons is due to the fact that the wave breaking transforms
breakwater with higher submergence ratio (h/d = 1.00) is large amount of wave energy into turbulent kinetic energy.
mostly effective to reduce K t less than 0.50 particularly for However, the latter case induces more intense energy dis-
Hs /L > 0.06. sipation than Hs /L = 0.0292 counterpart, as indicated by
Besides that, it is interesting to capture a wave absorb- dark blue–yellow–red scale colours (see Fig. 10). Similarly,
ing effect of the submerged WABCORE breakwater between the Hs /L = 0.0204 case shows higher concentration of

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Fig. 11 Characteristics of turbulent energy pattern for a h/d = 0.40, b h/d = 0.50, c h/d = 0.67, and d h/d = 1.00. Wave condition:
Hs /L = 0.045

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Journal of Ocean Engineering and Marine Energy

energy dissipation across left face and rear portions of the

breakwater. Further inside permeable zone of the structure,
the wave energy is dissipated dramatically, as shown by the
extent of blue–yellow–red contours in Fig. 10. It is primarily
found that the boundary layer formation plays a main role
in the development of greater energy dissipation followed
by vorticity generation and flow separation—indicated by
yellow–red scale colour, but the magnitude and intensity of
dissipation variables lessen gradually beyond these locations
of wave transformation.
Regardless of incident wave conditions, the effects of
wave transformation decrease however in a slow manner as
h/d decreases for larger water depths. This phenomenon was
satisfactorily captured in Fig. 11 using a clever device of tur-
bulent kinetic energy in three-dimensional (3D) modelling.
Furthermore, it can be seen that the generated turbulent Fig. 12 Transmission coefficient for variation in structural crest width
kinetic energy of wave transformation behind the breakwater
exists rather in three-dimensional spatial formation, indi-
cated by patterns of yellow–red scale colour basically due to h/d = 1.00, and K t tends to increase linearly up to 0.7203
complex-nonlinear effects of vortex generation. It is evident with 150% increment in water depth at h/d = 0.40. K t value
here that the amplitude of wave motion at h/d = 1.00 has is just above 0.60, 0.70, and 0.80 for the longest wavelength
more contact and friction to narrow crest of the submerged at respective h/d = 1.00, h/d = 0.67, and h/d = 0.50,
breakwater, therefore more wave energies are transformed and merely no wave attenuation at h/d = 0.40. The signifi-
into turbulent kinetic energies than others. Whereas, smaller cant results on K t attribute can be explained through detailed
h/d allows for incident wave to just go over very submerged visualisation on the characteristics of free surface elevation
breakwater without breaking or significant viscous friction. behind the submerged breakwater using three-dimensional
Although a decrement in K t is rather mild, this wave (3D) computational modelling for maximum relative water
absorbing effect beyond Hs /L = 0.0292 shown in Fig. 10 depth, as depicted in Figs. 13 and 14.
suggests an advantage of using a permeable breakwater struc- In presence of very minimum depth of water, the complex-
ture at diminishing more long period of wave. One of the hydrodynamic interaction between wave motion and the
reasons is because of the increased viscous and inertial drag low-crested WABCORE breakwater produces variably dis-
damping due to increasing flow rate of water across porous torted transmitted waves behind the structure as compared to
boundary of the breakwater (Abdullah and Fitriadhy 2020; the original incoming waves. Furthermore, it can be observed
Fitriadhy et al. 2019). In short, an increase in the flow veloci- that the wave transmission exists rather in three-dimensional
ties passing into the breakwater entanglement is proportional spatial configuration with different magnitude and phase
to the drop amount of pressure, and thus wave energy. This from the fundamental wave. This circumstance can be partly
hydrodynamically reduces the wave crest and transmission explained due to the effects of wave refraction and transfor-
behind the breakwater as a result of enhancement in the tur- mation as the wave field experiences a significant change in
bulent kinetic energy. From Figs. 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11, it is propagating speed along the curved boundary of the break-
generally shown that the proposed CFD model is sufficiently water, therefore, interfering tremendously mass flow of water
capable to simulate complex-hydrodynamic phenomena of passing across the narrow width of structure. In addition, a
wave transformation in the vicinity of submerged WAB- trail of disturbed water in the form turbulent energy is found
CORE breakwater. to be consistent with the position of the distorted wave crest
configuration. In the vicinity of breakwater boundary, this
4.4 Relative structural crest width generated turbulent kinetic energy also agrees well with the
dissipation rate characteristics produced by two-dimensional
The performance of the submerged WABCORE breakwa- (2D) computational modelling.
ter in short and more long waves is further confirmed in Based on the findings, it can be certainly shown that
Fig. 12, where K t diminishes with increasing value of Cw /L, the marked reductions on the transmitted wave crest (K t )
defined as relative structural crest width to wavelength ratio. for increasing Cw /L and h/d are strongly related to the
The Cw /L ratios remains constant throughout the investi- significant frictional contact between rigid breakwater’s nar-
gations while the values of L are based on the designed row crest and the moving body of wave, in which much
wave periods. For shortest wavelength, K t value is 0.4451 at of the wave energies are transformed into turbulent kinetic

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Fig. 13 Free surface elevation in a characteristics of turbulent energy pattern. Wave condition: Hs /L = 0.0292, h/d = 1.00

energy through wave breaking and overtopping. However as merged breakwater is partly produced as a consequent of the
described in Sects. 4.2 and 4.3, a portion of wave energies complex spatial distribution of generated turbulent energy
may be dissipated as reflected wave, percolation, even as that resulted from wave breaking, overtopping, viscous fric-
sound and thermal energy. Further as shown in Figs. 13 and tion and drag across breakwater boundary. Nevertheless, it
14, the characteristic pattern of generated turbulent energy is generally shown in Fig. 12 that the submerged breakwater
is also found to be of three-dimensional effect. This is due performs efficiently in the hydrodynamic condition domi-
to the fact that the motion of water wave is unsteady and nated by shorter wavelength. One of the possible reasons
very nonlinear especially in a region of highly turbulent is because the shorter wavelengths allow for more interac-
flows. This phenomenon can be clearly observed on the aug- tion between the wave amplitude and structural crest width
mented turbulent energy as the wave steepness shifts from than longer wavelengths − inherently due to a difference
Hs /L = 0.0292 to Hs /L = 0.0204. The scaled coloured in the magnitude of wave energy. Alternatively, it can be
turbulent energy generation markedly appears across and just deduced from Figs. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 that a lower
behind the breakwater entanglement. A reason is because of wave transmission can be attained, for examples; by optimiz-
the nonlinear wave interaction effect that consequently creat- ing the submergence depth, crest width, and permeability of
ing complex flows and chaotic process of wave propagating the breakwater structure, which ultimately improve its wave
over low and narrow-crested width of the submerged break- attenuating effect, especially in a region of more long waves.
water.
In short, the nonlinear three-dimensional effect of the
wave energy transmission behind the narrow-crested sub-

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Fig. 14 Free surface elevation in a characteristics of turbulent energy pattern. Wave condition: Hs /L = 0.0204, h/d = 1.00

5 Conclusion capability of the model has been demonstrated, in which the

numerical results agree fairly well with measurements.
The hydrodynamic performance and wave transformation of The results show a significant correlation between the
the submerged WABCORE breakwater were investigated in environmental tested conditions and the performance of sub-
this study using computational fluid dynamic (CFD) and merged WABCORE structure on the attribute in attenuating
experimental methods. The proposed numerical model is amount of K t . The wave transmission was dissipated approx-
based on the extended Navier–Stokes solver for permeable imately more than 50% of the incident wave energy in the
obstacle with volume of fluid method (VOF), and including test limit of relative water depth, 0.40 ≤ h/d ≤ 1.00; inci-
turbulence closure model as well level set algorithm to treat dent wave height, 0.1338 ≤ Hs /d ≤ 0.5547; relative wave
nonlinearity in the wave fields and complex free surface. The period, 0.0164 ≤ Hs /L ≤ 0.1303, and crest width 0.0256
effects of various environmental parameters, such as relative ≤ Cw /L ≤ 0.0512, predominantly due to wave transfor-
water depth, relative significant incident wave height, wave mations in the vicinity of breakwater boundary. The main
length, and structural crest width were examined experimen- factors affecting the characteristics of K t were appropriately
tally on the characteristics of transmission coefficient, K t . observed such as wave breaking over a crest width, partial
The CFD device was then employed to specifically repro- reflection in front of structure, and induced turbulent energy
duce several nonlinear hydrodynamic phenomena by a mean dissipation across the breakwater boundary. Hydrodynam-
of some visualisations on the characteristics of wave surface ically, these characteristic features of wave transformation
profile, velocity field and turbulent energy parameters. The have greater effect on the three-dimensional characteristics of

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distorted transmitted wave apart from wave refraction behind Hashim AM, Nur Diyana MN, Siti Nur Hanis A (2014) Wave attenuate
the breakwater structure. of interlocking concrete unit (ICU-V). Appl Mech Mater 567:313–
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