Hydrodynamic Characteristics of Thin Porous Barriers

Perforated breakwaters are often used in coastal management, and porous barriers are simplified forms of these structures. The main objective of this thesis is to assess the hydrodynamic characteristics of thin porous barriers under the action of water waves using both experiments and numerical Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics simulations. Results indicate that for each barrier, irrespective of the properties of the wave interacting with it, there is a coefficient value that is able to account adequately for the energy dissipation by it. The major outcome from the study is a computational model of flow that is capable of predicting wave-barrier interactions.