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I acknowledge with gratitude, for the guidance and help received from Mr. Balu R
Nair, Asst. Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Dr. Sheeja
Janardhanan, Asso. Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering and
Francis Thomas ,Asst. Professor Mechanical Engineering, SCMS School of
Engineering And Technology, Karukutty.
Above all I thank God Almighty for the blessing showered on us and also to my
parents and friends for their whole hearted co-operation.
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ABSTRACT
A small-scale wave flume was designed and constructed for the SCMS School of
Engineering and Technology. Wave flumes are used in laboratories to conduct
studies on fluid dynamics, wave theory, sediment transport, and near-shore and
ocean processes. The wave flume contains an electromechanically driven piston-
type wave-maker to generate water waves. The wave flume is constructed from
12mm thick float glass sheets and the 3metre long, 1metre high, and 1.5 meter wide
wave flume is supported on a metal framing substructure. A plunger-type wave-
maker constructed of acrylic produces the waves and is driven by a rack and pinion
arrangement controlled by an actuator system that enables the generation of arbitrary
waveforms. Additionally, a removable beach was constructed to dissipate the wave
energy at the end of the wave flume, opposite of the wave-maker. Given the
dimensions of the flume and motor characteristics, waves with a period ranging from
0.312s to 3.37 s and a wavelength from 6 in. to 132 in. in water from 4 in. to 18 in.
may be produced.
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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
The goal of this project is to design and build a small-scale mechanically driven
wave flume for Hydraulics lab at SCMS School of Engineering and Technology.
The lab currently does not have a wave flume therefore; the wave flume constructed
is intended for use by professors and students in experiments and in labs as a learning
aid.
In this report the design and construction of a small wave flume, which was built
and instrumented with a limited budget, is described.
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CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
Global warming and other climate changes have a direct effect on our oceans and
coastal systems. The increase in greenhouse gasses in our atmosphere and other
anthropogenic and natural forcing are causing a slight increase in average global
temperature over the last few decades. While global warming is not globally
uniform, the overall average warming is causing significant changes in components
of the Earth's system. One concern facing millions of people today is rising sea
levels.
Due to the rising sea level as well as the possibility of more extreme weather events
as a result of global warming, there has been a recent effort to better understand
ocean and coastal processes. While taking data in the field is a direct way to measure
what is actually happening, certain natural processes occur at a slow rate so obtaining
sufficient data may be difficult. Additionally, field data tend to contain a significant
amount of error due to the complexity of natural processes. Laboratory experiments,
however, can be used to better understand certain processes in a controlled
environment. One such instrument that can be used in studying ocean and coastal
processes is a wave flume.
Wave flumes can be used to conduct laboratory studies related to fluid dynamics,
ocean and coastal processes, sediment transport, wave behavior, and fluid-structure
interactions. A wave flume consists of a tank along which waves can propagate a
wave maker to generate the waves, and a damping mechanism at the end of the tank
to absorb the wave energy. The lengths of wave tanks are generally much longer
than their width enabling the water motion to be more or less two dimensional.
Wave flumes provide one of the primary methods to study hydrodynamics and water
waves in laboratory investigations.
Wave flumes constructed during the early to middle years of the 1900s and had
only monochromatic wave generators. By 1960-1970 irregular or spectral wave
generators became increasingly common. Figure depicts various types of
monochromatic wave generators. Most common are the piston or flap generators,
the former being better for shallow water waves and the latter better for deep water
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waves. Some more complex wave generators are designed so that they can be
modified from piston to flap motion as desired wave period is changed. The
Frequency of oscillation of the piston or flap establishes the wave period and the
amplitude of piston or paddle motion (for a given wave period) establishes the
wave amplitude.
Most of the characteristics of surface water waves have been determined from scaled
experiments using wave flumes (Sorensen, 1993). Additionally, wave flumes have
enabled the evaluation of theoretical developments and measurements taken in the
field (Sorensen, 1993). Studies have also been conducted
using wave flumes to understand complex processes such as breaking wave
characteristics, and sediment transport that are difficult to evaluate theoretically and
in the field. One of the first wave tank studies was conducted in 1825 by Ernst and
Wilhelm
Webber using a 1 in. wide wave tank (Sorensen, 1993). This experiment sought to
understand basic wave behavior including particle motions and reflection (Sorensen,
1993). Wave tanks continued to be constructed and used for experiments spanning
various disciplines. Large-scale wave flumes (100 m length) are now currently in
use as well as wave tanks with wave generators that can generate wave spectra and
irregular waves.
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2.1 Piston Wave Maker
Piston wave makers are used where the water is shallow compared to the
wavelength of the waves. Here the orbital particle motion is compressed into an
ellipse and there is significant horizontal motion on floor of the tank. This type of
paddle is used to generate waves for modeling coastal structures, harbors and
shore mounted wave energy devices
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Fig(3) Direction of piston movement
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ADVANTAGES
Shorter wave maker stroke
Less affection of evanescent standing wave.
Low maintenance
DISADVANTAGES
In deep water, this type wastes more energy to move the lower layers.
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Fig(6) Wave characteristics of flap wave maker
ADVANTAGES
In deep water, this type doesn’t waste energy to move the lower water layers
a piston type.
Regular little maintenance is required
DISADVANTAGES
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2.3 PNEUMATIC WAVE MAKER
Varying air pressure is used to create waves.
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Fig(8) Plunger wave maker
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CHAPTER 3
DESCRIPTION OF COMPONENTS
The frame is designed by considering the size of a tank as shown in the figure. Cast
iron is used for the construction of the frame.
The distance between the end legs on the side view is 3m and an intermediate leg
is provided for the support of the entire length at a distance of 1.5m from one side.
Distance between the legs on the front view is 1.5m. Also at the top horizontal legs
are provided each of 3m length and 50cm gap is given between them.
It was determined that the wave flume would be constructed of SGG CLEAR
GLASS TRUTHIK 12mm.It provides a strong, transparent and light material that
resists large amounts of scratching.
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The dimension for the glass tank is,
1 piece of 3m×1.5m.
2 piece of 3m×1m.
2 piece of 1.5m×1m.
While considering the huge size of the tank we have to provide supports at each
corner and at the middle also. So legs made of cast iron is drilled and fixed to the
base. For corner L shaped legs of length 1m and 50 mm thickness is used. For the
support at the center a 4cm×2cm dimensioned piece is used.
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Fig(11) Supporting legs
Plunger is made of Acrylic sheet of thickness 3mm. There are 6 pieces of acrylic
which are bonded using flex gum by providing necessary supports using acrylic
parts.
1 sheet of 70cm×60cm.
1 sheet of 60cm×79cm.
2 sheets of 74.5m×27.48cm.
Top plate of 27.48cm×60cm.
Bottom plate of 60cm×2cm.
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Fig(12) Plunger dimensions and design
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Fig(13) Rack and pinion
Three bushes of dimension 3.5in×3.5in×2in are made out from a cylindrical piece of
nylon for the sliding mechanism. Also we have drilled holes for connecting the
acrylic sheet and the rack and pinion mechanism. The bush is bored at a diameter of
1.5in for the smooth sliding over sliding bar. It is also used as the top and base
support for the sliding mechanism.
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3.7 Sliding mechanism
The nylon bushes are allowed to slide through a sliding bar made of PVC of diameter
1.5in and length of 1m. PVC is fixed on the nylon bush and got strength by filling it
with concrete.
3.8 DC motor
For lifting the rack and pinion mechanism the pinion gear is attached to a DC motor
which has got the specifications of 12v, 10A, 60RPM. The motor is attached to a
small frame to the near wall. To adjust the position of the pinion a shaft is attached
to the motor in a length of 3in.
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Fig(16) DC motor
the output voltage by continually dissipating power in the pass transistor. This
higher power conversion efficiency is an important advantage of a switched-mode
power supply. Switched-mode power supplies may also be substantially smaller
and lighter than a linear supply due to the smaller transformer size and weight.
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Fig(17) SMPS
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CHAPTER 4
MATERIAL SELECTION
The various factors which determine the choice of material are discussed
below.
1. PROPERTIES:
The material selected must possess the necessary properties for the
proposed application. The various requirements to be satisfied can be weight, surface
finish, rigidity, ability to withstand environmental attack from chemicals, service
life, reliability etc.
The following four types of principle properties of material affect their selection
a. Physical
b. Mechanical
c. From manufacturing point of view
d. Chemical
The various physical properties concerned are melting point, thermal conductivity,
specific heat, coefficient of thermal expansion, specific gravity, electrical
conductivity, magnetic purposes etc.
The various properties concerned from the manufacturing point of view are,
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Cast ability
Weld ability
Surface properties
Shrinkage
Deep drawing
2. MANUFACTURING CASE:
Sometimes the demand for lowest possible manufacturing cost or surface qualities
obtainable by the application of suitable coating substances may demand the use of
special materials.
3. QUALITY REQUIRED:
This generally affects the manufacturing process and ultimately the material.
For example, it would never be desirable to go casting of a less number of
components which can be fabricated much more economically by welding or hand
forging the steel.
4. AVAILABILITY OF MATERIAL:
5. SPACE CONSIDERATION:
Sometimes high strength materials have to be selected because the forces involved
are high and space limitations are there.
6. COST:
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appearance, a non-maintenance of the designed part are involved in the selection of
proper materials.
COMPONENT MATERIAL
Frame Cast iron
Glass SGG clear
Plunger Acrylic
Rack and pinion Cast iron
Bushes Nylon
Slider PVC
Adhesives Silicone sealant, flex kwik,
fevicol SR505
Cushion seating Foam sheet
Table(1) List of materials
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CHAPTER 5
THEORY
Waves form on the surface of an open body of water as a result of forces that
disturb the fluid (Dean & Dalrymple, 1991). Given this force, gravity and surface
tension act to return the surface to its equilibrium position (Sorensen, 2006). A
surface oscillation is established as a result of the disturbance of the adjacent water
surface, causing waves to propagate along a surface (Sorensen, 2006).
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From this schematic, the wavelength, L, is defined as the horizontal distance from
one crest to the next adjacent crest. The wave height, H, is the wave height from
trough to crest while the water depth, d, is the vertical distance from the impermeable
bottom boundary to the still water line. The water surface elevation, n, is the water
surface elevation from the still water level and is spatially and temporally dependent.
Given these definitions, the speed of the wave, also called the celerity, C, can be
defined as C = LIT where L is the wavelength and T is the wave period which is the
time it takes for two successive wave crests or two troughs to pass a specified point.
Another important wave feature is the wave steepness which is the ratio of the wave
height to wavelength, 0 = HI L.
Wave characteristics are classified according to relative depth, which is the ratio of
water depth to wavelength (Sorensen, 1993). Given the relative depth, waves are
divided into three categories: shallow water, transitional water, and deep water
waves.
This classification describes how water particles move throughout the water
Column. When a wave moves along a surface, it causes water particles to rotate in a
Circular or elliptical motion. The amplitude of the wave particle's motion decreases
with depth as the distance between the wave particle and surface wave increases. If
the bottom is a significant distance from the still water level relative to the wave-
length, the water near the bottom of the water column does not feel the effect of the
wave passing and the wave is therefore considered a deep water wave. For a shallow
water wave, however, water particle motion becomes more elliptical with depth due
to limitations in vertical motion at greater depths (Dean & Dalrymple, 1991). A
schematic of the water particle motion with depth for shallow-water and deep-water
waves is shown in Figure 2. Transitional waves are waves that fall between these
two classifications.
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Fig(19) Deep and Shallow-Water Wave Particle Motion
Water surface waves are created by causing a forced oscillation of the water
particles at one end of the tank. In most cases, this is done mechanically with
different kinds of wave boards and plungers. One major principle in wavemaker
design is to try to get the forced oscillation to match the natural
water particle oscillation in a wave as well as possible. Usually wavemakers
work satisfactorily at a limited, specific frequency range.
.
At frequencies outside this range, horizontal accelerations at the wavemaker surface
at various depths are inadequate, causing distortion of the wave shape.
The wave maker dynamics is described with an aid of the similarity of forced and
dampened spring-mass-system as shown in figure. However, only the basic equation
of motion and some essential parameters are shown.
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Fig(20) Spring mass system
mx+Cx+Kx=F0sinwt (1)
In above equation the mass term includes both the mass of the body and
the added mass. The added mass is the mass of water which when accelerated would
produce an inertia force equal to the vertical resultant of all fluid pressures
caused by the actual acceleration of water particles relative to the body.
The steady-state oscillation is generally represented by the following equation:
x=Xsin(wt-a) (2)
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Where X is the amplitude of oscillation and the angle (wt-a) is the phase angle.
Term a is the lagging phase angle between the motion and the external force.
The coefficients of sinwt and coswt can be assumed to be zero (orthogonal to each
other).
Solving X and a the following formula presents the amplitude of oscillation and the
phase angle of motion
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From the general force-deflection equation of a spring-mass system
Where
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is the damping factor which states the ratio of the dampening to its critical
damping value, Cc =(-2 √km).
The solutions of equations above are shown graphically in fig. for 0<ζ<1
Where all curves approach the static deflection at very low frequencies. At higher
frequencies the dampening effect is negligible but near the natural period, i.e. near
the resonance point the damping has a profound effect on the deflection.
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CHAPTER 6
FABRICATION
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The design of the flume was divided into these four components in which each
component was designed separately, yet with the other components in mind. After
each of the components were designed and constructed they were integrated together
to produce the entire wave flume system.
6.1.1 Material
It was determined that the wave flume would be constructed of 12mm SGG(Saint-
Gobain Glass) clear glass sheets. Clear glass is a high quality annealed glass
manufactured by the float process, with applications ranging from furniture to all
glass structural facades. A tank make of tempered glass was considered, however,
glass would be more expensive than float glass.
The glass sheets are bonded together using SILICONE SEALANT,
which has higher degree of bonding power as available in the current market. It is
remained dry for the next 24 hours for proper alignment of the glass sheets.
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6.2 SUB STRUCTURE:
A substructure is necessary for structural purposes as well as for the wave flume to
be used effectively for visual demonstrations such as the placement of cameras
underneath the flume to capture fluid motion. It is desired that the substructure
elevate the flume approximately 60cm, roughly the height of a table-top, for easy
instrument installation and optimal viewing. The substructure is leveled to keep the
horizontality using bushes.
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The weight of the flume including the float glass is about 405kg and when water is
half filled is 3105kg(inclusive of glass). Additionally, the movement of water causes
inertial loads on the substructure. Due to this large weight, a material with high
strength and rigidity is necessary. “Cast iron” metal framing system was deemed
optimal for the substructure as it can be used to support a large load while also be
taken apart easily for storage. The sub structure system contains specially configured
"lipped channels" made of “Cast iron” that can be connected
in a variety of configurations using welding. Solid works, a 3D CAD modeling
software was used to design the flume. Different configurations of the channels were
then considered to be built around the dimensions of the flume.
The final design of the substructure is shown in Figures. The double-channel,
“Cast iron” was used as the primary base of the flume for its strength and straight,
long length. Additionally, single channel, Cast iron" was used to fabricate lateral
supports along the sides of the flume.
Long bio foam sheets (5mm thick) are split into several pieces as required by the
dimension of each channels. These sheets are the bound on top of each channel
railings by strong binding material(FEVICOL SR505).
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Fig(26) Cushion seating for the glass
These are kept in such a way that the base surface of the wave flume is remained
seated in a perfect tight condition, and hereby avoiding unequal pointed loads on the
glass which will add an addition protection for the entire glass flume. These
increases the frictional force to avoid possible slipping.
There are additional reinforcements provided in all corners and the center portion of
the sub structure which is placed vertically. These includes 4 L-shaped cast iron bars
of high thickness of 5mm and 2 rectangular strips at the Centre.
These reinforcements are bolted to the legs of the substructure frame and binded
strongly to the glass by silicone sealant.
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6.3 Wave maker
Plunger type wave makers are theoretically more difficult to analyze and they have
not been extensively studied consequently, correspondence between regular or
irregular wave heights and plunger stroke for a particular configuration is often
established via empherical measurements rather than by theoretical analysis.
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6.3.1 Fabrication of wave maker mechanism
The plunger is made to be in the shape of wedge. These are designed with the help
of CorelDraw software. The resulting design is produced by means of laser cutting
on the acrylic sheet material of 3mm thick. Acrylic material is chosen because of the
high quality water resistance and its strength to its weights.
For additional support, proper acrylic reinforcements of long strips are heated to 90
degree such that 2adjuscent sides of sheets are attached strongly. Flex kwik are used
as the binding material for acrylic sheets. Since the plunger is been used in contact
with liquid, a strong resisting material such as silicone sealant is sealed over the
joining surface of the body. Thus enabling a higher degree of water resistance and
wear resistance.
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Fig(29) Supporting pieces of acrylic Fig(30) Back portion of plunger
The plunger is the attached to the 3 machined bushes of nylon by Allen key nut and
bolt and flex kwik for stronger bond. The bush consist of circular hole. Which
enables free up and fro motion of the attached bushes along the long cylindrical poly
vinyl chloride pipe having a diameter of one and half inch. The central poly vinyl
chloride pipe is fixed strongly to the base of the tank with araldite. And silicone
sealant. This PVC Pipe is filled with concrete reinforcements in order to increase the
strength of the pipe.
A Rack and pinion arrangement is made in order to have a possible running condition
of the plunger in up and down direction. The Rack of cast iron is machined to 58cm
in length and 88 tooth in number. A pinion is machined in such way that proper
meshing takes place between the pitch diameters of both the rack and pinion. The
inside diameter of the machine pinion is made to 2.8 cm and outside diameter to be
3.8cm.pitch diameter to be 3.5cm.number of tooth to be machined is 16.
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The rack is then bolted to the nylon bushes using 3/8 nut and bolt in the opposite
phase. Here by, a complete mechanism of wave maker is made possible by attaching
the shaft of the DC motor (12V, 10A, 60rpm) to the pinion which is in terms meshed
with the rack.
WORKING:
The DC motor is made to work using Switch Mode Power Supply (SMPS) as soon
as the power is ON. The shaft which is attached to the DC motor is welded to the
pinion of above mentioned diameters. This pinion is attached to the rack in such a
way that both the teethes are meshed with each other. This makes the rack to move
vertically by fixing the pinion. The speed to which the vertical motion takes place
depends on the rpm of the motor. This rpm can be adjusted by electronic regulators
which changes the voltage and resistance inorder to get the required speed of the
shaft.This speed directly related to the wave speed of the generated waves. Different
displacements of the plunger can also be made with the help of electronic circuits.
This displacements help in direct calculations of the amplitude of the generated
waves.
As rack reciprocates the components attached to it will also reciprocates. Thereby
the plunger attains a vertical reciprocating motion by the sliding action of the nylon
bush which is allowed to run freely on the PVC pipe.
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STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS
1.SUBSTUCTURE:
To ensure that the wave flume is being supported by does not significantly deflect
under the weight of the float glass and water, a simple deflection computation was
performed. The details of this computation are shown below. Given a maximum
water depth of 50cm.
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Deformation analysis result
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CONCLUSION
The wave flume described in this paper, designed for a specific study and built with
a limited budget. Although this wave flume is small compared to most wave flumes,
it is well-suited to educational and basic research studies. Larger flumes require a
staff and funding to operate and maintain them, and these overhead costs often
prohibit their use in small-scale experiments. Instead of reserving a period of time
well in advance to conduct experiments, the researchers using this small flume only
need to change it easily to investigate a physical behavior or try out an idea. These
initial studies can then be refined and eventually expanded to more complex
experiments in large wave tanks or flumes. In order to absorb waves coming from
wave maker in a typical wave flume of restricted dimensions, the choice of a passive
absorber is selected. In this wave flume, a gravel beach with a 1:4 slope is located at
the end of the tank opposite the wave-maker. This beach absorbs wave energy both
by causing the incident waves to break, and by allowing percolation of water through
the gravel after breaking to minimize reflection.
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