William Allsop
Reply by K Collins
Recent measurements of the paddle capabilities (regular waves) are shown in the Figure below:
With the ability to raise the floor to any working depth from 3.0 m to the free surface, Professor Allsop is correct that we must be mindful of the floor’s influence on the wave breaking. The diagram of the Ocean Basin, presented in the paper (Figure 2) is drawn (where possible) to scale. When the floor is fully down (3.0 m), this results in a slope of approximately 1:12, however as the floor is raised, this slope will increase to approximately 1:1.25 (as shown in Figure 2). The floor depth is input to the OCEAN software (Edinburgh Designs Ltd.) that controls the motion of the wave paddles and so the geometry of the basin is accounted for in the wave paddle transfer functions, which should mitigate the effects of the slope. Work to characterise the wave conditions at all floor depths is on-going.
