We carried out experimental studies of a smooth submerged breakwater in a wave channel in order to study such a structure impacts on the changes of statistically and spectrally defined representative wave periods as waves cross it. We discuss the impact of relative submersion, i.e. the relationship between the breakwater crown submersion and the incoming significant wave length Rc/Ls−i, on the representative wave periods. The mean periods, estimated using statistical and spectral methods, were compared in front of and behind the breakwater: the two periods turned out to be identical. Based on the measurements of the spectral mean wave periods in front of and behind the breakwater, an empirical model is derived for estimating the reduction in mean spectral period for submerged and emerged smooth breakwaters.
The factors influencing the atmosphere-ocean transfer of mass and momentum, as well as incipient wave breaking and the amount of energy dissipated due to breaking, are discussed in detail. In particular, the influence of directional spreading on the statistics of surface wave slopes and the area of the wind- roughened ocean surface is demonstrated. Theoretical analysis and comparison with the available experimental data show that unimodal directional spreading is not able to reproduce the observed ratio of the cross-wind/up-wind mean square slopes. Better agreement is achieved when bimodal directional spreading, consisting of two wrapped-Gaussian distributions, is applied. The bimodal form suggested by Ewans (1998) is used in the paper. Moreover, the formulae developed here show that the increase in the area due to surface waves is rather small for both regular and irregular waves.
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