To further verify performance and optimize the configuration for the BlueWave device, NWEI partnered with the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center (NNMREC) to conduct a series of wave tank tests on at 1:30 scale model at the Tsunami Wave Basin, the largest wave tank in North America. In fall 2011, we designed and fabricated a scaled model of the BlueWave and performed targeted hydrodynamic tests in the wave tank. The pictures below show the 1/30 scale model in an 11-meter, 16.7-second sea state. Data analysis was completed in spring 2012, and the results were used to finalize the design of the prototype that was deployed off the coast of Oregon in August 2012.

1/30 scale model in an 11-meter, 16.7-second sea state