Experimental study on the wave breaking

Abstract

This research newly shows six types of solitary wave breaking and four types of sinusoidal wave breaking on a plane beach slope by laboratory experiments. In particular, in the case of solitary waves, 'Plunging', and 'Collapsing' could be classified into two different cases respectively. The breaker height of the sinusoidal waves by each slopes is compared with the theory of both 'Solitary wave theory' and 'Airy wave theory', and it is more comparable to the ‘Solitary wave theory’. Especially, breaker heights show an unusual tendency of breaker heights with increasing and decreasing again between 0.04 and 0.08 of the wave steepness. Experiments have shown that the slope of the crest becomes sharper and the trough flatter as the sinusoidal wave ascends up the slope and it resembles the shape of the solitary wave. With their breaker types, it was possible to predict the breaker height and depth of both sinusoidal and solitary waves more precisely and in detail.