Quantum mechanics

Smoothed-particle hydrodynamics

Wave propagation

Wave height

Boundary value problem

Breaking wave

Geology

Oceanography

Thermodynamics

Physics

Optics

Particle (ecology)

Circuit breaker

Particle method

Mechanics

Coastal Engineering

Predicting the propagation and transformation of the solitary wave is very important in coastal engineering. This paper presents a numerical investigation of the solitary wave breaking over a slope by using a finite particle method (FPM), which is an enhanced smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH). We firstly conduct a comparative study on SPH and FPM in modelling solitary wave and it is demonstrated that FPM performs better than SPH qualitatively and quantitatively. A modified particle shifting technique (PST) is integrated into FPM to avoid possible ill corrective matrix due to extremely disordered particle distribution. We find that the artificial viscous coefficient can greatly influence the wave run-up and propose an empirical equation to quickly determine the optimal value of the artificial viscous coefficient used in the FPM simulations. The solitary wave breaking is then modelled for scenarios with relative wave heights and slopes, and three typical breaking types, including surging breaker (SU), plunging breaker (PL) and spilling breaker (SP), are analyzed. The result indicates that SP affects the pressure field more extensive than PL and SU. When the breaker type transits from SP to SU, the breaker tends to break at a narrower region close to the shoreline, the breaking depth decreases, the breaking index gradually turns into an unstable value, and the relative run-up height of breaking waves becomes larger. Although the wave celerity at breaking has no clear relationship with breaker types, the wave celerity at breaking increases with the increase of the relative wave height and slightly decreases with a steeper slope.

Numerical investigation of the solitary wave breaking over a slope by using the finite particle method