Design features of the upcoming coastal and ocean basin in Ostend, Belgium

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 will allow users to conduct tests for coastal and offshore engineering projects as well as for research. The basin will have state-of-the-art generating and absorbing wavemakers, a recirculation current system, and a wind generator. It will be possible to generate wave-current interactions in the same, opposite and oblique directions. 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.