An investigation of breaker heights, shapes and pressures

The shape of breaking waves has a significant effect on wave impact pressures on vertical sea walls. In order to refine the results of previous researchers, a systematic study of breaker shapes and wave impact pressures on a vertical wall using a newly developed experimental technique, sequential flash photography, was conducted at Queen's University of Belfast. Assumptions, like the existence of a vertical flip-through jet or a parallel face impact, could not be confirmed. The maximum pressure was found to occur for plunging breakers and at Still Water Level (SWL), although high pressures can also occur for other breaker types above or below SWL. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.