Abstract
Goda formula (Goda, 1973) has been used in the determination of wave pressures acting on a large size caisson such as the pier of the cable stayed bridge at sea. Goda formula, however, is to evaluate the wave pressures acting the infinite vertical caisson of composite breakwater so that it can`t be applied to a large caisson with finite width and length because of diffraction effects. In the present study, three dimensional nonlinear frequence domain method based on perturbation method and boundary integral method is applied to the computation of the linear and nonlinear wave pressures acting on the front of a large size caisson under the variation of its width and length, and angle of incident wave. The numerical results are compared to Goda\`s ones, and then the characteristics of wave pressure distributions acting on a large size caisson are discussed.
