EXPERIMENTS FOR OPTIMIZATION OF SUBMERGED BREAKWATER CONFIGURATION OFF WEST COAST OF NIIGATA

The new concept of integrated and extensive shore defense system combining submerged breakwaters, jetties and beach nourishment has been studied for the erosion-prone west coast of Niigata Prefecture to replace the conventional shore protection system consisting primarily of offshore breakwaters in shallow waters for wave interception.This paper deals with two-dimensional experiments conducted on the multi-row submerged breakwaters proposed for construction off the west coast of Niigata Prefecture to analyze their crown width, crown depth, installation spacing, and other relevant design parameters so as to select an optimum breakwater configuration which meets wave heights that will not disturb sediments inside the submerged breakwaters.