Trapping and Generation of Waves by Vertical Porous Structures

Abstract

The trapping and generation of surface waves by submerged vertical permeable barriers or plates kept at one end of a semi-infinitely long channel of finite depth are investigated for various barrier and plate configurations. The various fixed barrier configurations are (1) a surface-piercing barrier; (2) a bottom-touching barrier; (3) a barrier with a gap; and (4) a fully submerged barrier. The different moving plate (or wavemaker) configurations are of types 1, 2, and 4, respectively. The boundary value problems are converted to dual/triple series relations by a suitable application of the eigenfunction expansion method and then the full solutions are obtained by the least-squares method. The variations of reflection coefficients are obtained and discussed for different values of the porous-effect parameter, the normalized distance between the barrier and the channel end-wall, and the length of submergence of barriers for all types of barrier configurations. The dynamic pressure distributions for various porous-effect parameters are analyzed for the three types of wavemakers. The wave amplitudes at large distances are obtained and analyzed for different values of the porous-effect parameter and the distance between the wavemaker and the channel end-wall.