Wave Response of Proposed Improvements to the Shallow-Draft Harbor at Kawaihae, Hawaii

Numerical modelingThe US Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station's Coastal Engineering Research Center was requested by the US Army Engineer Division, Pacific Ocean (POD), to numerically study the wave response of two proposed plans of improvement to the shallow-draft harbor at Kawaihae, Hawaii.The existing harbor consists of an 850-ft-long, 120-ft-wide entrance channel, a 1.2-acre turning basin, and an 850-ft-long breakwater.Plan 1 includes a 640-ft-long, 80-ft-wide main access channel, a 375-ft-long extension to the existing 850-ft-long west breakwater with a 200-ft-long stub on the harbor side, a 425-ft-long access breakwater with a 400-ft-long wave absorber, a 1,025-ft-long east breakwater, and a 650-ft-long offshore breakwater.Plan 2 includes the same :improvements as Plan 1 with the exception of the removal of 200 ft of the west breakwater tip.These plans were developed to provide protection to the existing harbor.This report details the study and provides final results to POD.