The HYDRALAB+ project ended in August 2019
Large Wave Flume-GWK
LUH (Leibniz University Hannover)
Stefan Schimmels
Forschungszentrum Küste
Merkurstraße 11
D-30419 Hannover
Germany
http://www.fzk.uni-hannover.de/
Facility for large-scale research with 7.00 m depth and wave heights up to 2.5 m
Description of facility:
Technical data
| Flume | |
| Length: 330 m | |
| Width: 5 m | |
| Depth: 7 m | |
| Maximum water depth: 5m | |
| Wave Board | |
| Generation of corrected trochoidal waves | |
| Active wave absorption | |
| Maximal stroke 4.2 m | |
| Installed electric power 900 kW | |
| Wave characteristics | |
| Maximum wave height (regular): 2.5 m | |
| Maximum significant wave height (wave spectra) : 1.3 m | |
| Wave period: 3 - 20 s |
The Large Wave Flume (Großer Wellenkanal, GWK) is the most important facility for basic and applied research on coastal engineering phenomena at Forschungszentrum Küste (FZK). FZK is a Joint Central Institution of Leibniz Universität Hannover and Technische Universität Braunschweig
With about 300m length, 5m width and 7m depth it is considered to be one of the largest facilities of its kind worldwide. The huge dimensions of GWK are necessary to perform unique large scale experiments for the investigation of certain phenomena that cannot be arbitrarily downscaled.
The piston type wavemaker of GWK has a maximum stroke of 4.2 m and is equipped with an active wave absorption system to avoid unwanted re-reflections of waves at the wave paddle. The standard implementation allows for the generation of regular waves, theoretical and measured natural wave spectra, focused waves and solitary waves. At a maximum water depth of 5 m the maximum wave height for regular waves is 2.1 m and for wave spectra 1.3 m significant wave height at the wave paddle.
The data acquisition system at GWK can record up to 120 channels simultaneously with a maximum digitising rate of 20 kHz per channel. Due to the large number of different measurement devices following physical parameters can be recorded: Water surface elevation, wave runup and overtopping, water velocities, water pressures, acceleration and deformation of structures, forces on structures, sediment concentration, survey of morphological processes. The obtained data can be visualized and analysed by comprehensive software tools immediately after the recording.
GWK represents a unique installation for European development of new integrated strategies to capture all processes associated with wave-induced seabed-structure interactions, wave-seabed interactions, dynamic structure-foundation interactions, wave-induced sediment transport and morphological changes.
