INVESTIGATION OF HYPERBOLIC PARABOLOID FACE PROFILE EFFICACY FOR FREE-SURFACE BREAKWATERS

Coastal regions worldwide face escalating challenges from intensified storm events and rising sea levels (Vardy et al., 2017). With rapid urbanization and increase in coastal land demand, there's a pressing need for innovative and sustainable coastal defense solutions (Sahavacharin et al., 2022). Located near the water's surface, Free-Surface Breakwaters (FSBW) stand out as a compelling solution to protect coastal infrastructure due to its ability to be deployed in deeper waters, high mobility, relatively low production and installation cost, and reduced environmental impact (Teh, 2013). Furthermore, the FSBW can be fabricated on land and deployed to the intended sea area relatively easily by towing it, regardless of the soil foundation or complexity of the bathymetry. FSBW can be either be fixed or floating, with reinforced concrete box-type with flat faces being the most common design (Teh, 2013). The current study examines both the hydrodynamic and structural performance of fixed FSBW with hyperbolic paraboloid (hypar) faces, which is a novel approach.