Hydrodynamic Performance Evaluation of Step Floating Breakwaters through Experiment and Artificial Intelligence

A new type of floating breakwaters (FBs) is introduced by changing the longitudinal section of π-shaped FBs into a stepwise shape. The hydrodynamic performance of so-called step floating breakwaters (SFBs) is evaluated through 144 experiments on SFBs of different types as well as π-shaped FBs. Initially, using the experimental data, the performance of SFBs was evaluated by comparison against π-shaped FBs with similar width and draft depths. The experimental data were then used to develop a model for predicting transmission coefficient of SFBs through Support Vector Machines. The accuracy of this model was assessed through statistical indices like Correlation Coefficient and Root Mean Square Error and was found to be satisfactory. The experimentally obtained data which were further extended using the developed model were utilized for assessing the performance of SFBs when various geometrical and hydrodynamic parameters changed.