HW

1. Pretend you are hanging out in a swell in Hawaii with a medium shoulder high wave (8
ft. peak-to-peak height). These are slow rollers with about 20 meters between the crests.
The wave is moving at about 15 km/hr. (Fast enough for a short stick or a long-board).
Calculate the power generated by this wave BEFORE it reaches the break. (i.e assume it
is traveling in deep water). (75 Pts.)
a. P = pg^2H^2T/(32*pi) = 997kg/m^3 * (9.8 m/s^2)^2 * (2.4384 m)^2 *
(20m/4.167 m/s)/ 32*pi = 11147.9 W*m^-1
2. My short stick was a 6’ triple fin yellow banana and my long-board was painted like a
“door” and was 10’ long and pretty heavy. Which one went faster? Assume only one
shot (trajectory) across the face (wave front) with the same facing angle and that you do
not wipe-out. (25 Pts.)
a. The long board went faster. This is because if both boards went across the face
with the same facing angle, it is more likely that the shortboard will experience
more drag. Shortboards are designed with more rocker so that more drag could be
created as a result of water flow following the flow (“fit” the curve of the wave
better). This results in better ability to control the board in a big hollow wave but
less speed.
3. You have been asked to install underwater electric generators but have been forbidden to
put them where there is any boat traffic. You have therefore selected the left and right
underside of a bridge. The maximum height of the water is 28 ft. and the flow of the
river is about 40 m/sec. on average through-out the water area being sampled. You
must stay 5 feet above the river bed and 8 feet below the surface. Design an approach to
capture the energy and turn it into electricity. Calculate the maximum achievable power
from one of these devices. (100 Pts.)
a. First, I would install a surging point absorber device on both sides at a depth of 8
ft below the surface since this is the upper bound of depth. Since 95% of the
energy is between the centerline of the wave and gamma/4 below, it is important
that the device is installed as high as possible since energy exponentially
decreases the lower you go. I would utilize a surging device since it is
theoretically able to capture twice as much energy as the heaving device. This
surging motion created by the device would then be converted into electricity via
the motion of a turbine and a connection to a generator and this electricity would
be transported using some sort of very long wire.
b. Pmax = 2*(gamma/2*pi)*Pi, T = 2*pi*v/g = 25.6195 s, gamma = gT^2/2*pi =
1024.78, Pi = pg^2H^2T/(32*pi) = 1.78094
c. Pmax = 5.8094*10^8 W*m^-1