Interacting artificial surf reefs

Wave surfing is existing and becoming more attractive in the Netherlands. However natural wave conditions are not suited to encourage the sport. To improve the surf conditions of the local waves, Artificial Surf Reefs are potential solutions. As a part of intentions to optimise the design of Artificial Surf Reefs, this thesis is aimed at gaining insight into the wave-induced circulations and the wave-current interactions around an artificial reef. Impacts of the channel width on these processes were assessed by varying the width of the channel. Several surf-ability parameters were measured or observed to verify the performance of the proposed design. The surface currents on either side of the reef show a decrease in intensities and dimensions resulting in less intense wave-current interactions around the structure. It was found that rip currents with a Froude number smaller than 0.1 do not cause negative impact on the breaker shapes.