Laboratory technologies II

This conference contribution introduces and validates a laboratory-scale measurement method employing photogrammetry techniques. With the rapid advancement of computer vision technology, it is possible to improve the limitations of traditional wave gauges and better describe temporal and spatial wave field variations using such techniques. This method effectively reconstructs water surface variations using data from webcam recordings. It captures wave characteristics at a single location, akin to traditional wave gauges, and can also reconstruct the 3D free water surface, revealing wave fields over time and space. With appropriate temporal and spatial resolution, capturing more detailed variations in the wave field is possible. The wave height extracted from the 3D free water surface reconstruction (6.28 cm) also compares with that measured by the wave gauge (6.24 cm). This approach provides an effective supplementary tool for measuring wave characteristics, offering advantages over traditional wave gauges.

The presence of marine pollutants such as marine plastics has increased significantly over the last decades and poses a major environmental problem, in both the coastal and offshore area. The fundamental fluid mechanics processes associated with marine transport are often not resolved in large-scale models, and the processes associated with wave-induced currents (e.g., Stokes drift) in rotating, density-stratified fluids with a free surface remain unclear and untested. For this purpose, the Delta Transport Processes Laboratory (DTPLab) is being developed at TUDelft Hydraulic Engineering Laboratory. This laboratory pioneers the combined experimental study of surface waves, density stratification and Coriolis forces in a single laboratory. It will feature a 4.40 m diameter rotating table, a 5m and a 13m long flume, a surface and an internal wave generator. The laboratory will be first used to study the impact of the Coriolis force on the Stokes drift.

A new methodology to investigate air-water flow properties in highly unsteady flows

This paper presents the results of the analysis carried out to design a low-cost passive energy absorber for the multidirectional spectral wave tank of the IMARES-UCR group. Once built, reflection coefficient measurements were performed for different regular wave conditions to determine its behavior. The results obtained are presented, which are considered acceptable and allow the wave tank to operate correctly.