Wave Engulfer™ Function

The Wave Engulfer™ is built offshore and along the protected object. The active component in the wave attenuator is a ductile sheet that flaps in the waves. There are no mechanical parts that move against each other, no hinges or bearings. Just a sheet resting on a frame, attached along the outer edge.

The wave damper functions by cutting off half the cycle of the orbital motion of the waves. The sketch below illustrates the principle. When the water level is rising (180º to 360º) the sheet is pushed up and away from the frame it is resting on. Due to its weight it tends to sink back, though. When the water level is falling (0º to 180º) the sheet returns to the frame where its movement is brusquely stopped.

This causes the pressure underneath the sheet to drop, which seems to divert water underneath the sheet from the rising stage at 270º to that area at 0º. The result is that the wave crest is prevented from rising as it should. When the 0º phase reaches the downwave end of the sheet, the remaining low pressure is equalized out by lowering the water surface.

Furthermore, at 90º the wave is prevented from falling as it should. The lowering of the crest and the raising of its flanges tends to create two wave crests where there previosuly was only one. This doubles the frequency.

The sheet can also be lighter than water and be resting underneath the frame. The only difference is the sign of the pressure spike generated, and that the new wave crest is generated in the wave trough of the old wave when the pressure spike underneath reaches the end of the sheet.