Image: Deltares
Waves will fuck you up. There are of course hurricane storm surges and earthquake tsunamis, but even everyday waves will over time collapse a coastal cliff face, unseat an offshore wind turbine, and erode a protective dike. Hydraulic waves are studied by scientists for good reason.A Dutch research project has completed a mammoth experiment capable of generating the largest human-produced waves on Earth. The Delta Flume, as it's known, will be inaugurated next week at the Deltares institute in Delft. It consists of a 300 meter long canal or trough that's 9.5 meters high and 5 meters wide. At one end is a huge metal plate activated by four pistons: the wave-maker.This plate is what generates the wave action. As they race along the flume, the waves are monitored by laser- and radar-equipped trolley cars running on rails mounted on either bank At the far end of the set-up researchers will place whatever it is that they want to put up against waves of up to 4.5 meters tall: gravel bars, dikes, wind turbine pylons, breakwaters.This will all look very cool.Science News reports:
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I probably don't need to explain the increasing importance of wave research on a planet beset by rising oceans. From now on, whatever we put up against those oceans had better be no less than a wonder of engineering. Fortunately, we now have a bad-ass wave pool to help."Every year, an average of 7000 people in the world lose their lives in floods," the Delta Flume project page notes. "The economic damage has now reached 22 billion euros a year and it can only increase if we do nothing. To live in safety and to keep our feet dry—while keeping costs manageable—new, innovative measures are needed. For example, alongside 'hard' barriers, 'soft' measures that use natural processes can also provide solutions. Too little is still known about many innovative solutions."The flume is largely inspired by Holland's historic battle against the sea. Half of the nation is below sea level and a 1953 flood killed more than 1800 people, which is why this small country is obsessed with keeping its 3000 kilometers of primary flood defenses up to date. But Deltares hopes that foreign researchers, governments, and private contractors will also find their way to the Delta Flume, says Marcel van Gent, who heads a team of 35 scientists and consultants at the institute.