Computer models are nowadays routinely used in harbor engineering applications. Models based on the two-dimensional elliptic mild-slope equation can simultaneously simulate refraction, diffraction, reflection, and dissipation in completely arbitrary coastal domains. However, floating structures such as floating breakwaters and docks are often encountered in the modeling domain. This makes the problem locally 3- dimensional. Hence it is problematic to incorporate a floating structure into the 2-d model. Tsay and Liu (1983) proposed a highly simplified but approximate approach to handle this problem practically. The validity of their approach is examined in detail and it is found that the actual solutions deviate considerably from the theoretical solutions, although their approximation provides results with the correct trend. Therefore, correction factors have been developed and may be used to produce more reliable results using the framework of Tsay and Liu (1983). The resulting method is applied to Douglas harbor in Alaska. The result shows that docks in the harbor distort the wave field considerably and create a reflective pattern that can affect navigation safety in some areas. Also plots are developed for the transmission coefficients for waves propagating past rectangular and cylindrical floating objects of infinite extent for a wide range of conditions encountered in practice.

In the present thesis the performance of box type floating breakwaters (FBs) with screens under regular waves is examined experimentally in a wave flume. The experiments were conducted in the Coastal and Harbor Engineering Laboratory wave flume, Civil Engineering Department, Middle East Technical University, Ankara. The influence of incident wave characteristics and certain geometric characteristics, such as the width and draft of the structure, on its effciency is examined. Three different widths of the structure in combination with three different screen (draft) height, a total of nine different cases, of FBs are examined. Results related to transmission and reflection of the incident regular waves on the structure are presented. According to the results, for all structures drafts and structure widths, as h/L increase (wave period and wave height decreases) Kt values decrease. Also, Kt values obtained for chain moored floating breakwaters are larger than the Kt values of fixed cases consistently.