Development of a Vertical Mixing Enhancement Breakwater using Piston Mode Wave Resonance in the Water Chamber

Abstract

In this study, an offshore facility that aims sea water mixing and diffusion along the vertical direction in a semi-closed bay is intended for development through the use of wave energy as a driving force.A water chamber type dike comprised of a row of vertical walls of different drafts and a submerged horizontal plate was proposed as a typical structure in order to be able to utilize piston mode wave resonances and resultant vortex generations for the effective vertical mixing. Especially, a wedge section of the front wall was adopted to induce the mean current along the vertical direction of the structure as a resultant effect of asymmetrically generated vortex flows at the mouth of the water chamber. Additional function of the structure as a breakwater was also examined.