Use of a stepped-slope floating breakwater system for environment-friendly method of coastal shelter

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In recent years, floating breakwaters are used increasingly as a means of protecting marinas from wind and ship generated waves. They have extensive potential applications for boat basin and ramp protection as well as erosion protection. The advantages of these structures compared to conventional breakwater are economy, mobility, environmentally friendly and short construction time. Various types of floating breakwater have been developed and commercialised in the past decade but they are fairly costly. Therefore, the stepped slope floating breakwater (SSFBW) is designed to meet the need of coastal problems in Malaysia. This paper describes the performance of the SSFBW as an environmentally friendly wave attenuation structure. Laboratory experiments had been conducted with the aim to determine the transmission, reflection and energy loss characteristics of various breakwater geometry. The results show that larger wave period gives higher wave transmission and reflection and lower energy lost. The wave energy reduction of the SSFBW is mainly by dissipation through wave breaking and friction of the model. Comparisons were also made with the experimental results of various floating breakwater designs. The present study has excellent agreement with the results from other researchers.