Wave Absorbance System for Towing Tanks

Much of the research on floating solutions relies on physical experiments conducted in towing tanks, flumes, and wave basin facilities, in which specimens are exposed to wave loads, simulating oceanic conditions at scale. 98.5% of towing tank setups are closed on both ends (aka dead-ended systems). Consequently, the conducted experiments are significantly impacted by wave reflections from the end of the tank, there situated a wave absorbance structure commonly referred to as the “beach”. These reflections require post-processing on the recorded signals to filter out the noise, potentially reducing the accuracy of the analysis. To minimize this problem, it is common to install a beach at the end of the tank for wave-breaking purposes—essentially a slope (linear or parabolic) designed to break the incident wave energy. Currently, conventional beach designs are made from commonly available materials and structures and therefore limited in its wave absorption capacity. This is especially present in short towing facilities or flumes where there is not enough length to efficiently absorb waves using longer beaches, making these facilities vulnerable to reflective waves. This study aims to improve beach design and reduce the influence of reflecting waves in testing facilities through a biomimetic noise reduction principle driven by computational design and digital fabrication techniques. The proposed design integrates vertical floating structures (resembling kelp blades) and ceramic porous structures (resembling corals) to achieve better wave absorbance compared to the existing solutions. This study presents the design methodology and preliminary results of the proposed solution.