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EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF A
MULTIPLE-ROW PILE
BREAKWATER
Conference Paper January 2012

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Theoharris Koftis
Aristotle University of Thessalo
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Panayotis Prinos
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Retrieved on: 23 September 2016

EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF A MULTIPLE-ROW PILE BREAKWATER

THEOHARRIS KOFTIS (1), PANAYOTIS PRINOS (2) & MICHAEL AFTIAS (3)
(1)

Research Associate, Department of Civil Engineering, Hydraulics Laboratory, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki,
AUTh, Thessaloniki, 54124, Greece. thkoftis@civil.auth.gr

(2)

Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Hydraulics Laboratory, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, AUTh,
Thessaloniki, 54124, Greece. prinosp@civil.auth.gr
(3) Ydronomi Consulting Engineers,
Evias 32, Vlilisia, Athens, 15235, Greece. m.aftias@ydronomi.com

Abstract
The efficiency of a perforated breakwater that consists of rows of cylindrical piles is
investigated experimentally in a wave flume. The effect of the structure's dimensions and the
relative water depth on the transmission coefficient Ct is studied under regular water waves.
The results show that the efficiency of the breakwater increases with the increase of the
structure's width and freeboard and that the proposed structure has comparable efficiency
with that of a conventional rubble mound Low Crested Structure.

1.

Introduction

The use of perforated breakwaters consisted of piles has been widely studied recently, as an
alternative solution to conventional breakwaters, for coastal protection under mild wave
conditions. The smaller construction costs and less environmental impacts compared with
conventional gravity-type breakwaters as well as environmental requirements, for instance
phenomena of intense shore erosion, water quality and aesthetic considerations advocate the
application of such structures. Studies on such perforated breakwaters can be found in the
recent literature such as a single-row pile breakwater that is consisted from a row of
rectangular piles (Zhu, 2011), a multiple-row curtain wall-pile breakwaters (Ji and Suh, 2010), a
partially perforated-wall caisson breakwater (Suh et al, 2006) and a perforated wall with
vertical slits (Suh et al, 2011).
The main goal of the present study is to evaluate the efficiency of such a perforated
breakwater for wave attenuation and coastal protection of Agios Theodoros Mazotos beach,
located in Cyprus in central south Cyprus. The beach is approximately 1,5 km and suffers from
severe erosion; the maximum retreat that has been documented from 1973 to 2003 is of 23 m.
The satellite image shown in Figure 1 gives an indication of the erosion as the present coastline
can be compared to the 1973 coastline. The main idea is to propose an easy to install perforated
breakwater with the following features:

is composed of industrial low cost elements. e.g. prefabricated concrete pipes

is easy and quick to install and/or remove

has less environmental impact compared with conventional rubble-mound breakwaters

partial attenuates wave energy

has small impact on the aesthetic of the beach and on the water quality

The proposed structure, that satisfies the above mentioned recommendations, is a

multiple-row pile breakwater that consists of rows of vertical piles.

Figure 1. Orthophotomap of the pilot site (Agios Theodoros Mazotos , Cyprus). Evolution of the coastline,
White line: 1973 coastline. (Source: Public Works Department of Cyprus (PWD))

A series of experiments are conducted in the wave flume in the Laboratory of Hydraulics,
Department of Civil Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki for the evaluation of the
proposed multiple-row pile breakwater performance. The efficiency of the structure is
evaluated through the transmission coefficient Ct (=Ht/Hi, Ht=transmitted wave height,
Hi=incident wave height). The structure consists of rows of cylindrical piles and is studied for
the three different states regarding the mean water level (submerged, emergent and at the
waterline case), under monochromatic water waves. The effect of the wave and structure's
characteristics on the efficiency of the structure is examined. More specifically the effect of the
relative freeboard Fr/d (Fr=freeboard, d=water depth), relative width W/d (W=width of
breakwater) and the relative water depth d/L (L=wavelength) on the transmission coefficient
Ct is studied.

2.

Experimental setup

The wave flume in the Laboratory of Hydraulics, Department of Civil Engineering, Aristotle
University of Thessaloniki is 16 m long, 0.4 m wide and 0.5 m deep. It is equipped with a
piston-type wave maker at one end and a wave absorbing beach at the other end. The
dimensions of the structure and the wave climate correspond to prototype conditions with a
scale 1:20. Three different configurations of the model, regarding the number of rows of piles,
are examined; namely two, four and six rows. The layout of the model in the flume and the
configurations examined are shown in Figure 2, while the definition sketch of the structure is
shown in Figure 3.

Figure 2. The layout of the model in the flume (upper); the three different configurations examined (lower).

Figure 3. Definition sketch of the multiple-row pile breakwater model: (left) top view; (right)
section view at a row of cylinders.

The multiple-row pile breakwater consists of rows of cylindrical piles of diameter D=10cm,
that are placed on a plate resulting in an overall structure's width, W, while the porosity of the
breakwater is r=0.61. In literature the effect of the porosity on the performance of a single-row
pile breakwater (Zhu, 2011) suggests that this parameter is important. However restrictions for
the gap between the piles in the prototype installation in the Agios Theodoros Mazotos beach
imply the use of the constant porosity r=0.61.
Different configurations regarding the width and the freeboard of the structure are studied
under regular water waves. The water depth in the flume is kept constant d=18 cm, while the
total height of the structure hs and thus the freeboard of the structure Fr varies, resulting in
three different states regarding the mean water level (submerged, emergent and at the
waterline case). Figure 4 shows the layout of the experimental wave flume and the location of
the wave gauges while the main wave and structure characteristics are summarized in Table 1.

Figure 4. Layout of the experimental wave flume and measurement sections (units in m).
Table 1. Wave and structure characteristics
Wave period
T (s)
0.50
0.63
0.77
0.91
1.11
1.43

3.

Freeboard
Fr (cm)
-2.50
0.00
1.25

No of
rows
2
4
6

Structure
Width W(cm)
20
40
60

Fr/d

W/d

d/L

-0.14 (submerged)
0.00 (waterline)
0.07 (emerged)

1.11
2.22
3.33

0.10
0.14
0.17
0.22
0.31
0.46

Results and discussion

The results are presented with respect to the effect of the dimensionless water depth d/L,
width W/d and freeboard Fr/d on the transmission coefficient Ct. Figure 5a shows the
variation of Ct with d/L for the submerged case (Fr/d=-0.14) for the three configurations with
W/d= 1.11, 2.22 and 3.33 (2, 4 and 6 rows of piles respectively), while Figure 5b and 5c show
the results for the waterline (Fr/d=0.00) and the emerged (Fr/d=0.07) case respectively. Small
variation of the transmission with d/L is shown, except the 2-row pile breakwater (W/d=1.11)
where longer waves are shown to be more attenuated. For the 4-row pile breakwater
(W/d=2.22), where the incident waves are in the range from near shallow to deep waters, there
is no noticeable variation of Ct with the relative depth. As expected the emerged 6-row
structure (W/d=3.33) is the most efficient in wave attenuation, since the smaller transmission is
found, namely Ct~0.40.
Figure 6a shows the variation of Ct with W/d for the submerged case (Fr/d=-0.14) and for
three different wave conditions, d/L=0.14, 0.17 and 0.22. The effect of the structures width is
evident, since Ct~0.80 for W/d=1.11, Ct~0.70 for W/d=2.22 and Ct~0.60 for W/d=3.33. The
results for the waterline and the emerged breakwater are shown in Figure 6b and 6c
correspondingly. The efficiency of the breakwater is highly increased with the increase of the
width for these configurations also.
The effect of the structures freeboard (submerged, waterline and emerged case) on the
transmission can be easily seen from the variation of Ct with Fr/d as shown in Figure 7. More
specifically in Figure 7a the variation of Ct with Fr/d is depicted for the models for W/d= 1.11,
2.22 and 3.33 and for incident waves with d/L=0.14, while in Figures 7b and 7c for d/L=0.17
and d/L=0.22 respectively. It is shown that transmitted waves are decreased with the increase
of the relative freeboard of the structure.

1.00
0.80

Ct

0.60
W/d=1.11

0.40

W/d=2.22
0.20

W/d=3.33

0.00
0.00

0.10

0.20

d/L

0.30

0.40

0.50
(a)

1.00
0.80
W/d=1.11

0.40

W/d=2.22

Ct

0.60

W/d=3.33
0.20
0.00
0.00

0.10

0.20

d/L

0.30

0.40

0.50
(b)

1.00
0.80
W/d=1.11

0.40

W/d=2.22

Ct

0.60

W/d=3.33
0.20
0.00
0.00

0.10

0.20

d/L

0.30

0.40

0.50
(c)

Figure 5. Variation of Ct with d/L, for (a) submerged, (b) waterline and (c)
emerged structure.

1.00
0.80

Ct

0.60
0.40
d/L=0.14
d/L=0.17
d/L=0.22

0.20
0.00
0.00

1.00

2.00
W/d

3.00

4.00
(a)

1.00
0.80

Ct

0.60
0.40
d/L=0.14
d/L=0.17
d/L=0.22

0.20
0.00
0.00

1.00

2.00

3.00

4.00

W/d

(b)

1.00

0.80

Ct

0.60
0.40
d/L=0.14
d/L=0.17
d/L=0.22

0.20

0.00
0.00

1.00

2.00
W/d

3.00

4.00
(c)

Figure 6. Variation of Ct for (a) submerged, (b) waterline and (c) emerged
structure.

1.00
0.80

Ct

0.60
0.40

W/d=1.11
W/d=2.22

0.20

W/d=3.33
0.00
-0.20

-0.10

0.00

0.10

0.20

Fr/d

(a)

1.00
0.80

Ct

0.60
0.40

W/d=1.11
W/d=2.22

0.20

W/d=3.33
0.00
-0.20

-0.10

0.00
Fr/d

0.10

0.20
(b)

1.00
0.80

Ct

0.60
0.40

W/d=1.11
W/d=2.22

0.20

W/d=3.33
0.00
-0.20

-0.10

0.00
Fr/d

0.10

0.20
(c)

Figure 7. Variation of Ct with Fr/d for (a) d/L=0.14, (b) d/L=0.17 and (c)
d/L=0.22.

The efficiency of the proposed multiple-row pile breakwater, for the submerged case, is
compared with that of a conventional rubble mound Low Crested Structure (LCS). More
specifically the Ct for the submerged model (Fr/d=-0.14) with W/d=0.22 (4 rows of piles) are
compared against the Ct of an equivalent LCS with the crest width W and the same freeboard
Fr as calculated by the formula proposed by Van der Meer et al, 2005. From such comparison,
depicted in Figure 8, it is shown that the Ct~0.70 for the perforated breakwater and Ct~0.50 for
the conventional LCS. The results show that the proposed structure has comparable efficiency
with that of a rubble mound LCS and bearing in mind the less impact on both environmental
and aesthetic issues advocate to the use of the multiple-row pile breakwater as an alternative
for protection of beaches against erosion.

1.00

0.80

Ct

0.60

0.40

W/d=2.22

0.20

low crested rubble

mound breakwater
(Van der Meer et al,
2005)

0.00
0.00

0.10

0.20

0.30

0.40

d/L
Figure 8. Variation of Ct with d/L for the 4-pile breakwater (W/d=2.22) and a
low crested rubble mound breakwater (Van der Meer et al, 2005), Fr/d=-0.14.

4.

Conclusions

The main conclusions of the study can be summarised to the following:

Emergent structure is the most efficient, since Ct~0.40-0.65 depending on the number of
piles. For the submerged structure Ct~0.50-0.80 is found and for the waterline structure
Ct~0.45-0.70. The overall most efficient configuration is the emerged 6-row pile breakwater
since Ct=0.40 is found.

It is shown that Ct decreases with the increase of the structures relative freeboard Fr/d.

For the breakwater consisted from 2 rows of piles, the effect of relative depth is evident
and the structure is more efficient in attenuating shallow water waves, while for the
configurations with 4 and 6 rows, Ct is almost constant with d/L.

The submerged 4-row pile breakwater has comparable efficiency (Ct~0.60-0.70) with a
conventional low crested rubble mound breakwaters (Ct~0.50) with the same crest width
and freeboard.

Acknowledgments
The study was performed within the COASTANCE project for "Regional action strategies for
coastal zone adaptation to climate change", with funding from the Ministry of Communication
& Works of Cyprus.

References
Datong Zhu (2011). 'Hydrodynamic characteristics of a single-row pile breakwater', Coastal
Engineering, Volume 58, Issue 5, May 2011, pp. 446-451.
Chang-Hwan Ji, Kyung-Duck Suh (2010). 'Wave interactions with multiple-row curtainwallpile breakwaters', Coastal Engineering, Volume 57, Issue 5, pp.500-512.
Kyung-Duck Suh, Jae Kil Park, Woo Sun Park (2006). 'Wave reflection from partially
perforated-wall caisson breakwater', Ocean Engineering, Volume 33, Issue 2, pp. 264-280.
Kyung-Duck Suh, Yeul Woo Kim, Chang-Hwan Ji (2011). 'An empirical formula for friction
coefficient of a perforated wall with vertical slits', Coastal Engineering, Volume 58, Issue 1,
pp. 85-93.
Van der Meer J.W., Briganti R., Zanuttigh, B., Wang, B. (2005). 'Wave transmission and
reflection at low-crested structures: Design formulae, oblique wave attack and spectral
change', Coastal Engineering, Volume 52, Issues 1011, pp. 915-929.