The interactions of porous vertical-cylinder array with incident waves and its performance as a breakwater are investigated by numerical simulations and medium-scale experiments. The interaction theory based on linear potential theory for N bottom-mounted vertical cylinders and the porous and viscous effects are included through Darcy's law. The empirical relationship between plate porosity and porous parameter is obtained from a series of experiments. The numerical results agree well with the measured data. It is found that both transmitted and reflected waves as well as wave run-up and exciting forces are significantly reduced due to wall porosity. The results also show that the optimal design of seawater-exchanging breakwaters can be found through a systematic parametric investigation by controlling the size, number, porosity, and arrangement of circular cylinders. Copyright 2009 by The International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers (ISOPE).
Proceedings of the International Offshore and Polar Engineering Conference