Experimental and numerical investigation of fiber reinforced composite floating barrier
Keywords:
floating barrier, wave attenuation, densified plastic, coconut coir fiber, finite element analysis, computational fluid dynamicsAbstract
The study suggested the implementation of a sustainable floating barrier made of densified recycled plastics strengthened with treated coconut coir fiber, combining coastal protection and waste management through an experimental-computational method. Design-Expert was used to optimize the mixture designs, with mechanical behavior and wave attenuation studied with Finite Element Analysis and ANSYS Fluent. Laboratory tests on ASTM-based testing and the modified Rule of Mixtures were used to validate the numerical results. The optimized design mixture exhibited mechanical strength, water absorption, and durability with the conventional HDPE materials of density 0.848 g/cm3, water absorption of 0.63, and compressive strength of 3.98 MPa. The results in wave attenuation demonstrated 14.80%-26.57% reduction with a mean absolute percentage error of 12.29, showing a good correspondence of the numerical and experimental results.
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The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Mary Glen Caugma, Lyka Yvonne Victoria, Ella Vargas, Ana Carmela Malpaya, Glecy Malibiran, Nicole Hernandez (Author)
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