Experimental Study on Hydrodynamic Characteristics of Barge-Type Breakwaters under Different Mooring Methods
Shinichi Aoki
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
General overview
The introduction has enough theoretical references taking into consideration some conclusions related to floating breakwaters and waves mitigation, considering the constraint in the period.
The authors may comment on some real cases of floating breakwaters, such as the Condamine floating breakwater In the Principate of Monaco.
The authors should justify the choice of the mooring systems, and not have considered, for example, the mooring configuration below, crossing the moorings:
It would be more clear if Tables 3 & 4 show the Incident wave that is producing those mitigated waves behind the breakwater.
It would be also important to mention the boundaries of the system: maximum period tested and evolution of the mitigation when Wave height or period increases (post-dike wave height).
It’s important to show the constraints of the system to be able to define its boundaries and situations in which the system is suitable and useful. That should be introduced in the conclusions.
According to the result delivered in this paper :
- What are the suggestions for the use of barges as floating breakwaters
- What are the boundaries of the system
- Openings: which are the new tests or cases to be studied to improve the system and extend its use
- What are the proposals for the use of this system: the yachting project in Tingjiang town is mentioned, however, no proposals are made. May the authors show an example of the floating breakwater localization in this harbor and the expected improving effects on agitation whether the barge is moored. A map should be included to show where the breakwater will be installed and its utility
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Minimal corrections
Figure 2-: for a better understanding, the authors should indicate more clearly that de red lines represent the floating breakwater.
Figure 7 & Figure 8; review please the legend, the chains 1&2
Is it possible to introduce the Height & Period of different waves in the X-axis, to have a more complete vision of the cases at once?
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
This paper presents experimental results of effectiveness of a barge-type floating breakwater under various conditions.
The paper provides useful results, but it contains many missing explanations and errors. The content of the paper is also insufficient in terms of novelty.
Followings are the comments from the reviewer:
Major items
1) Introduction: Many theoretical and experimental studies on floating breakwaters were conducted in the 1980s. The author should not only cite recent research papers but also summarize them to show the novelty of this study.
2) 2.1 Model design and setup: Properties of morning systems of prototype should be shown.
3) 2.1 Model design and setup: As a basic information, natural frequencies in the three modes of oscillation of a model should be indicated.
4) Table 2: Four wave types such as "9th order wind wave", "12th order wind wave", "Ship's regular wave" and "Ship's irregular wave" are not commonly used. An explanation of these is necessary.
5) Table 7 and Figure 7: No information is provided for "section lying on the seabed". The effects of wave breaking are discussed, but it is unclear what type of wave breaking occurs.
Minor items
1) Introduction, L45,46: definitions of B, L, q, d are missing.
2) 2.3 Experimental working conditions: No information is provided for topography near the breakwater, port pool layout, berthing dock schematic etc.
3) Table 2: Water depths should be shown together with the water levels.
4) Table 3: Definition of H13% may be necessary. Is this commonly used?
5) Table 3 and 4: Isn't the last row in the table ”12th order wind wave"?
6) Figure 7 and 8: Legends may be wrong.
Author Response
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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Complements to the Author's responses:
Response 8:
I agree, I'm not asking to widen the experiment, however, it would be interesting for the authors to propose some new paths to be followed for future experiments.
Response 12:
Sorry for the misunderstanding
I was asking to include in figures (from 8 to 13), in the legend of the X-axis, the characteristics of waves (Height and Period) below the legend (for example, below " ship's irregular wave text"
Author Response
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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Regarding the natural frequencies of the model, 137Hz for pitch seems too high and 0.08Hz for Heave seems too small. The author should check them again.
Author Response
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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
