Search

ABSTRACTFloating breakwaters are used for wave damping applications. Scrap tires can be used as floating breakwaters, since they are available in plenty around the world. However, the question is ‘How to configure them for effective wave damping?’. A detailed experimental research has been carried out for this question and the results were presented in this paper. Physical models of nine different scrap tire floating breakwater configurations were studied in a range of random wave fields. It was found that wave transmission coefficients (ratio of transmitted wave height to incident wave height) of 0.036 to 0.2 can be obtained for relatively shorter wave lengths. For relatively longer waves, wave transmission coefficients in the range of 0.13 to 0.35 were observed. By increasing the number of rows of scrap tires from 4 to 8 or increasing the layers from 1 to 2, improved wave damping was achieved for longer waves. Multiple regression analysis was carried out and empirical equations were proposed for predicting the wave transmission coefficients for all the models studied. Case studies for coastal erosion protection of two specific sites (the beaches of Kennedy Space Center in the U.S. and Qaru Island in Kuwait) were also reported in this paper.