Bragg reflection of water waves by multiple floating horizontal flexible membranes with submerged rectangular bars on the seabed.

Highlights • Bragg reflection of water waves by multiple floating horizontal membranes with rectangular bars on seabed is studied. • Reflection and transmission coefficients are obtained using eigenfunction expansion method and wide spacing approximation. • The results are compared with those available in the literature to verify the adopted method. • The effects of the height of the rectangular bars, the number, tension, spacing and length of the membranes are analyzed. Abstract Bragg reflection of water waves by multiple floating horizontal flexible membranes is investigated based on the linear wave theory and the assumption of small membrane response. Under the floating horizontal membranes, periodical submerged rectangular bars are arranged on the flat seabed. The total reflection and transmission coefficients are obtained by using the eigenfunction expansion method and the wide spacing approximation. The calculated coefficients are validated with the results available in the literature, which shows that the present method is applicable. The characteristics of Bragg reflection are systematically investigated by changing various parameters including the height of the rectangular bars, the number, the tension, the spacing, and the length of the flexible membranes. The results can help designing multiple floating horizontal flexible membranes as effective floating breakwaters by taking advantage of Bragg reflection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]