The design and commissioning of the first, circular, combined current and wave test basin

In 2010 Bryden, Ingram and Wallace applied to the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) for funding to construct the all waters combined current and wave test facility. Funding was awarded and over the next three years the FloWave TT facility was constructed. At its heart is a 25m diameter, circular basin, equipped with 168 force feedback wave makers, 28 bidirectional impellers and a liftable floor. The 2m deep test section is designed to generate currents (at 0.8m/s) and 700mm high, 2s period, waves from any relative directions. Allowing a model to be subjected to scale tests over the full tidal ellipse simultaneously with multi-directional waves. Construction of the facility was completed in November 2013, and calibration is currently in progress. Initial work has shown that maximum flows of 2ms^-1 can be achieved across the test section, while the circular wave maker array allows very large focused waves to be created. This paper describes the FloWave facility, its construction and commissioning and presents some preliminary results.