North America’s West Coast represents some of the highest global potentials for wave energy output. We developed and conducted a survey of a sample of residents (N=2000) in California, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia matched on gender, age, race, and education to the general population. Respondents were asked how much...
This dissertation has focused on the charateristics of bubbles generated by breaking waves and the feedback of wave-current interaction on the forcing mechanism of low frequency wave especially basin seiching wave. For the first study, Optical image capture observations of breaking waves in a laboratory surf zone are presented. The...
A wave-by-wave forecasting system is desired for optimization of wave energy conversion devices and for improving safety of vessel-based marine operations. This study outlines the first validation attempts of a recently developed forecasting system called Wavecast. The forecasting approach uses X-Band marine radar images for data assimilation, then reconstructs and...
Forecasting of ocean waves over a short duration on the order of tens of seconds was approached with the optimization of wave energy conversion in mind. This study outlines the development of an artificial neural network model, specifically the Nonlinear Autoregressive Network with Exogenous Input (NARX), to predict a wave-by-wave...
Wave energy has the potential to power large and small factions of economies around the world alike. Current methods for determining the amount of wave energy resource available to wave energy converter (WEC) devices entail capturing the look of the sea state at large by presenting characteristic wave heights, periods,...
As the second largest river in the U.S., the entrance to the Columbia River is home to some of the most extreme wave conditions on the Pacific Coast. Winter storms commonly generate waves 6-8 m in height, which in combination with strong tidal currents, can produce dangerous navigation conditions. To...
A theory is developed to provide an analytical solution to an
unsteady flow field which is partially occupied by a porous structure.
The flow is induced by a small amplitude incident wave
train. The porous structure may contain multi-layer anisotropic but
homogeneous media. Three typical porous structures are investigated:
a...
The eventual deployment of wave energy converters (WECs) on a commercial scale will necessitate the grouping of devices into arrays or "wave farms," in order to minimize overhead costs of mooring, maintenance, installation, and electrical cabling for shoreward power delivery. Closely spaced WECs will interact hydrodynamically through diffracted and radiated...