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Design features of the upcoming Coastal and Ocean Basin (COB) in Ostend, Belgium
Kortenhaus, A.; Troch, P.; Silin, N.; Nelko, V.; Devriese, P.; Stratigaki, V.; De Maeyer, J.; Monbaliu, J.; Toorman, E.; Rauwoens, P.; Vanneste, D.; Suzuki, T.; Van Oyen, T.; Verwaest, T. (2016). Design features of the upcoming Coastal and Ocean Basin (COB) in Ostend, Belgium, in: Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on the Application of Physical Modelling in Coastal and Port Engineering and Science(Coastlab16), Ottawa, Canada, May 10-13, 2016. pp. [1-10]
In: (2016). Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on the Application of Physical Modelling in Coastal and Port Engineering and Science(Coastlab16), Ottawa, Canada, May 10-13, 2016. [S.n.]: [s.l.]. , more

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Document type: Conference paper

Author keywords
    Physical modelling; Coastal engineering; Offshore engineering; Renewable energy; Wave energy

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Abstract
    The new Coastal and Ocean Basin (COB) at the Greenbridge Science Park in Ostend, Belgium is under design. The laboratory will provide a versatile facility that will make a wide range of testing possible, including the ability to generate waves in combination with currents and wind at a large range of model scales. The facility is part of the Gen4Wave project on offshore renewable energy and coastal engineering in Flanders, Belgium. The COB is funded by the Hercules foundation, the Agency for Innovation by Science and Technology (IWT), the Ministry of Public Works and Mobility, Ghent University (UGent) and University of Leuven (KU Leuven). The basin will be part of a larger building complex that will also host a towing tank from the Maritime Access Division of the Ministry of Mobility and Public Works. This new infrastructure will offer the opportunity to companies and government agencies to develop innovative designs thereby strengthening the position of Flanders in coastal engineering and offshore renewable energy.

    The COB will be 30 m long, 30 m wide and will have a variable water depth of up to 1.4 m. A central pit will allow experiments e.g. with mooring lines at a depth in excess of 4 m. The basin will have state-of-the-art generating and absorbing wavemakers and submerged bidirectional propellers that will drive the recirculation current (velocities of up to 0.4 m/s) across the underground current tank. It will be possible to generate wave-current interactions in the same, opposite and oblique directions. The design of the current generation system has been achieved using both numerical and experimental models. Flow velocity fluctuations are expected to be smaller than 10% RMS. For wind generation, a portable device capable of generating speeds up to 15 m/s is foreseen. The basin will be equipped with state-of-the-art instruments for wave, current, wind and topographic measurements.

    The COB will allow users to conduct tests for coastal and offshore engineering projects as well as for research. The basin is expected to be operational in 2017. This paper presents an overview of the basin’s capabilities, the ongoing work, and some results of the design work.


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