PREFACE 



This report is published to provide coastal engineers an evaluation of the 

 existing technical literature (theoretical, field, and laboratory) on floating 

 breakwater concepts. The work was carried out by the Hydraulics Laboratory of 

 the U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station (WES) under the coastal 

 structures research program (Design of Floating Breakwaters work unit) of the 

 U.S. Army Coastal Engineering Research Center (CERC). The Design of Floating 

 Breakwaters work unit was created because of the strong interest of field 

 personnel in research on floating breakwaters. The Directorate of Research 

 and Development (DRD) of the Office, Chief of Engineers (OCE) requested that 

 guidance on this research be made available to the field offices as soon as 

 possible. Improvements in the state-of-the-art of floating breakwaters are 

 continual, thus some parts of this report may have become outdated prior to 

 final publication. 



The report was prepared by Dr. Lyndell Z. Hales, Research Hydraulic Engi- 

 neer, Hydraulics Laboratory, under the general supervision of H. B. Simmons, 

 Chief, Hydraulics Laboratory, WES. 



Dr. R.M. Sorensen, Chief, Coastal Processes and Structures Branch, CERC, 

 was the technical monitor during the preparation of the report. 



Comments on this publication are invited. 



Approved for publication in accordance with Public Law 166, 79th Congress 

 approved 31 July 1945, as supplemented by Public Law 172, 88th Congress, 

 approved 7 November 1963. 



TED E. BISHOP 



Colonel, Corps of Engineers 



Commander and Director 



