Functional Performance of a Submerged and Essentially Horizontal Plate for Offshore Wave Control: A Review

The functional performance of a submerged and essentially horizontal plate for offshore wave control is summarized. The historical development of the concept is observed with comments on the extraordinary features of this simple type of structure. Analytical, numerical, and semi-empirical methods for evaluation of the reflectivity and transmissivity of and the hydrodynamic forces on the plate are comparatively examined. Known results on the effects of the length, the submergence, the porosity and the inclination of the plate are surveyed. The three-dimensional effects, the effects of wave irregularity, wave nonlinearity, fluid viscosity and current presence are also discussed.