Manipulating Harbor Geometries to Defeat Long Wave Agitation Problems

Reducing or eliminating long period swell wave effects in harbors has long been a problem. The longer period action has the ability to penetrate deeply into basins and can cause harmonic seiching action if the wave lengths are tuned to the basin dimensions. Various techniques have been attempted to dampen or reduce the swell action including: large breakwaters, creating entrance channels with resonators, or devising wave damping shoreline edges. For the design of a new marina in Costa Rica, these traditional solutions were considered, and in most cases, discarded due to extreme water depth issues limiting what could be constructed, and also concern about triggering harbor resonance. The solution for defeating the problem laid in the careful consideration of the specific geometry designed for the marina harbor.