Orientation of Wave Generating Devices for Generating Plunging Breakers in a Pool
The present invention provides an apparatus and method for improving the creation of plunging and peeling waves in a pool or body of water. The improvement is accomplished by orientating one or more wave making devices at an acute angle to one another and then placing these angled wave making devices adjacent to an array of wave making devices. The angled wave making devices are arranged and orientated such that when they generate a wave, the generated wave converges with the waves generated from the array of wave making devices. This convergence of waves constitutes a wave-wave interaction. This wave-wave interaction replicates the physical process of wave focusing and favors the creation of a plunging and peeling wave.
The present invention relates generally to artificial waves created in a pool with specific plunging and peeling characteristics for recreational and scientific purposes.
BACKGROUND OF THE PRESENT INVENTIONPools and bodies of water designed specifically for creating waves that plunge and peel for purposes of surfing and scientific research exist in a variety of forms. The majority of these wave pools have a specific pool wall shape and a specific floor design that favors the transformation from the generated wave to the desired wave that breaks in the plunging and peeling mode. The wave pool embodied in U.S. Pat. No. 3,629,877 represents the most commonly occurring variation of such wave pools, in terms of commercialized versions, found commonly at water attraction parks. In order to achieve the desired plunging and peeling wave, similar versions of this wave pool have been proposed that incorporate a number of improvements such as converging side walls or adjustable floor shapes as embodied by U.S. Pat. No. 6,912,738 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,144,197, respectively.
In these pools waves are typically generated from wave making devices on one side of the pool and allowed to propagate across the pool. To generate the initial wave, each of these wave pools mentioned above utilizes any of a variety of wave making devices and methods. Examples of some of the different wave making devices are found as prior art in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,629,877; 4,558,474; 4,692,949; 4,999,860; 6,336,771; and the commercially popular pneumatic wave generator embodied in U.S. Pat. No. 6,729,799. Many of these wave making devices are situated on one side of a wave pool and generate waves that propagate across the pool ultimately relying on the shape of the wave pool walls, floor, or both to transform the generated wave into the desired form.
Other variations of wave pools that aim to improve the generation of waves, the transformation of the waves, or both have been proposed in prior art. For example, the prior art embodied in U.S. Pat. No. 7,815,396 utilizes a reflecting wall in order to enhance the transformation of water waves into the desired plunging and peeling form. Circular or ‘ring shaped’ pools as embodied in U.S. Pat. No. 6,920,651 have been proposed to recreate the refracting or ‘bending’ nature of breaking waves, resulting in the desired wave form as well. Plunging and peeling waves have also been achieved by placing a moving wave making device in a body of water as embodied by U.S. Pat. No. 6,928,670. Regardless of specific type of wave making device or wave transformation method, all of these aforementioned prior embodiments share the common final goal of creating plunging and peeling waves in a pool
In the present inventor's experience, creating the desired plunging and peeling waves in a commercially viable wave pool has posed some major engineering challenges in the past. The objective of creating such a wave pool has been restricted by two major factors; generating an initial wave of adequate height and maximizing wave transformation from generation to plunging and peeling in the smallest footprint as possible.
The first challenge of generating an initial wave of desired height requires a relatively large input of mechanical energy. The target wave height of roughly two meters is desirable to cater to recreational surfing but has been economically difficult to achieve mostly due to the energy requirements for such device to create the desired wave. A number of devices do exist for this purpose; however in many instances these devices have proved too expensive to operate effectively and efficiently.
The second challenge has been transforming the initial generated wave into the desired plunging and peeling mode in the smallest footprint as possible. By minimizing the space required for transformation, a wave pool may be maximized for the utilization of plunging and peeling, or in the case of recreational purposes, surfing. However, from a physical standpoint, wave transformation must follow the laws of nature; therefore the appropriate propagation distance for adequate shoaling and refraction to occur is restricted to the physical dimensions required by the initially generated wave to transform accordingly, such as wave height, period, and wave length.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention utilizes constructive interference as a method for rapidly transforming an initially generated wave into the desired plunging and peeling wave form. By orientating wave making devices to generate waves that constructively interfere with one another the present invention significantly increases the wave height of the initially generated wave and quickly creates a wave form that is favorable for a faster transformation into the peeling and plunging mode. The present invention therefore provides an apparatus and method for improving the creation of plunging and peeling waves in a body of water or in a pool such as those in the aforementioned prior arts.
Constructive interference between two or more waves for the purposes of creating a plunging and peeling wave in a pool or body of water is accomplished by placing two or more wave making devices adjacent to one another and orientated at an acute angle to one another. This adjacent arrangement and angled orientation allows for the generated waves to converge with one another shortly after being generated. The result is a convergence of the two original waves. When constructive interference occurs, the convergence may significantly drive the water surface upwards. This rapid increase in wave height over an appropriate water depth then favors the formation of a plunging wave. Because the increase in wave height is localized, breaking is generally initiated in one region along the wave resulting in peeling.
The constructive interference of two or more wave forms in this regard is commonly referred to as wave-wave interaction in the coastal engineering industry. Wave-wave interactions may result in a super-elevated water surface that translates into an increased wave height. Wave-wave interactions have also been shown to be non-linear in nature wherein the resultant increase in wave height at the point of wave convergence is exponential. In terms of energy requirements to create plunging and peeling waves, this principle of constructively interfering two or more waves together in a pool directly translates into energy savings when trying to achieve larger wave heights with existing or commercially available wave making devices.
Wave-wave interactions also favor the formation of peeling waves. Generally, wave pools use a series of wave making devices typically arranged in a linear array to generate a wide wave that occupies the entire width of the pool. All of these wave making devices working in concert with one another generate the total wave form that would be utilized for recreational wave riding such as surfing. Creating a wave-wave interaction at one end of the array of generated waves favors plunging to initiate at this end. This localized initiation of plunging then favors peeling to occur sequentially along the waves generated by the other wave making devices.
Wave-wave interactions favor the creation of plunging and peeling waves through a wave transformation process known as wave focusing. A brief explanation of the water wave physics associated with wave focusing is given to better elucidate the physics behind the principles employed by the present invention.
With regards to the transformation of water waves into plunging and peeling waves in a general sense, a wave must be generated and then allowed to propagate over a specific topography, or floor shape, that favors specific shoaling and refraction to occur. Waves that shoal and refract within specific ranges may result in plunging and peeling waves. For plunging, or crest overturning, to occur, the wave must shoal over a specific floor slope, generally in the range of ⅕ to 1/30. For refraction, or a variation in propagation speeds along a wave crest, to occur, the sloped floor must be orientated obliquely to the incoming wave crest, generally in the range of 30° to 70° to achieve the desired peeling effect. Peeling, or the sequential plunging of a wave crest in this case, results from a precise balance between shoaling and refraction.
Wave focusing occurs when portions of a wave crest refract and converge onto one another. Wave focusing is generally caused by favorable topographies and is considered the optimum wave transformation principle for creating plunging and peeling waves. At the focal point of wave focusing, fluid flow is greatly increased into a localized area. The resulting free surface is then projected upward and outward resulting in a plunging breaker. The localized breaking along the wave crest also initiates peeling and causes the wave to plunge sequentially along the remaining portions of the wave crest.
Wave-wave interactions are utilized by the present invention to create a water based wave focusing effect rather than relying solely on the topography of the pool floor. The present invention in its preferred embodiment is designed to improve the formation of plunging and peeling waves in a body of water by incorporating wave making devices that create wave-wave interactions leading to wave focusing effects. In this regard, the present invention may also be utilized to improve the capability of creating plunging and peeling waves in bodies of water such as the wave pools in the aforementioned prior arts.
The present invention in its preferred embodiment provides an apparatus and method for improving the creation of plunging and peeling waves from initial waves that are artificially generated in a pool or body of water. The application of the present invention is applicable to any and all bodies of water that have the intention of creating plunging and peeling waves wherein the waves are initially generated from a wave making device or an array of wave making devices.
The apparatus and method of the present invention is also independent of the specific mechanical means of generating waves. It should be understood that the present invention may be applied to any body of water that has the functional means of generating waves, regardless of the type of wave making device. The method and apparatus embodied by the present invention is characteristic of the orientation and arrangement of wave making devices and is ubiquitous to the actual mechanical means of the wave making devices. Therefore in preferred embodiments of the present invention disclosed herein, no reference is made to the specific type of wave making device. It should further be understood that any type of wave making device maybe accommodated by the present invention in a variety of alternative embodiments.
Now turning to the drawings and referring to
In
The improvement to the creation of plunging and peeling waves in the wave pool 100 of
To further enhance the wave focusing effect at region 180 a second angled wave making device 110 is placed adjacent to and is orientated at an acute angle 112 to wave making device 120. The wave 111 generated from wave making device 110 converges with waves 121 and 131 in region 180. The convergence of waves 111, 121, and 131 in the region 180 further enhances the wave focusing effect occurring in the region 180.
The wave focusing induced by wave-wave interaction in region 180 is a physical transformation process of water waves frequently observed in nature.
Taking a section view in
As wave 210 propagates into shallower water beginning at depth contour 201 its energy transport velocity decreases due to frictional effects with the pool floor 200. Transport velocity further reduces as the wave continues to propagate over gradually decreasing water depth. According to establish wave theory energy flux must be conserved, resulting in an increase of wave height at wave 220 at the shallower depth contour 202. This physical process is known as shoaling. Wave 220 continues to shoal as it enters shallower water at depth contour 203 where the wave height continues to build until breaking occurs. Wave 230 is showing to be breaking in the spilling mode at depth contour 203. The broken wave then dissipates shore 204.
Referring to
Water waves rarely approach a shoreline normally. They usually propagate towards land from some acute angle 305 and align themselves normal to the shore through the process of refraction, as demonstrated in
Referring to wave 310 in
Shoaling as demonstrated in
Referring again to
Taking a section along line 4-4 in
Wave breaking with crest overturning as demonstrated in
As portions 410, 420, and 430 of wave 402 sequentially plunge, the hollow region 450 has the effect of propagating along the wave with a speed equivalent to the sequential overturning along the wave crest, represented by the vector 460. This sequential breaking of the wave crest is known as peeling. The sequential peeling of wave 402 along portions 410, 420, and 430 acts to propagate this region 450 along vector 460. The vector 460 also represents the path that a surfer would travel while riding in the tube. It is this unique combination of plunging and peeling that allows for a surfer to ride along the wave in the tube. Nearly all wave pools designed for surfing therefore have the common goal of recreating plunging and peeling waves for the purpose of “tube riding”.
The wave 402 in
Along the world's coastlines, straight and parallel depth contours, as demonstrated in
Referring to
Waves 510, 520, and 530 are shown approaching the shore 504 normally in
The portions 512 and 522 on wave 520 are no longer traveling normal to shore 504 but have been refracted by the shallower depth contours 501 and 502. Refraction has also caused the portions 521 and 522 on wave 520 to begin converging towards one another. This convergence results in a localized increase in wave height to occur at portion 523 on wave 520. This convergence of a wave on itself due to refraction is known as wave focusing. When an increase in wave height due to wave focusing is coupled with a wave height increase due to shoaling, the resultant wave height increase may be substantial. The size of the circle on portion 523 of wave 520 indicates a higher wave height than compared to portions 521 and 522.
As wave 530 continues to propagate into shallower water, it further shoals and refracts along depth contour 503, causing more focusing of wave 530. At portion 533 of wave 530 plunging is initiated. This localized plunging due to wave focusing effects, favors peeling and the resultant wave 530 takes on a form similar to the plunging and peeling wave presented in
Taking a section along line 6-6 in
As wave 610 propagates into shallower water beginning at 601 its wave height increases due to shoaling and wave focusing. Shoaling has been demonstrated in
To review, in
Consider now wave pool construction. In the present inventor's experience, it is desirable to place wave making devices along a linear array preferably on one side of a pool for a variety of pragmatic economic and mechanical reasons. Under the same economic and mechanical pretexts, it is also desirable to construct a wave pool with a floor comprised of straight and parallel depth contours. To with, in the past the majority of commercial wave pools have been constructed with both straight and parallel depth contours and a linear array of wave making devices. Discernibly, these wave pools are unable to create waves that are suitable for surfing whether for recreational or scientific purposes.
The present invention provides a method and apparatus by which wave focusing over straight and parallel depth contours may be achieved by utilizing wave-wave interactions. These wave-wave interactions may be created by arranging and orientating wave making devices in a manner that the waves generated from these wave making devices converge with one another. The method embodied by the present invention may be considered when designing an original wave pool or body of water with the intention of creating plunging and peeling waves. Notwithstanding, the method and apparatus embodied by the present invention may be applied to an existing wave pool or body of water by means of a retrofit, for example, in order to improve that wave pool or body of water's ability to create plunging and peeling waves.
Referring to
As both waves 710 and 720 propagate towards the shore 704, they converge at region 730, constituting a wave-wave interaction. The region 730 experiences a height increase due to the effects of shoaling demonstrated in
The wave focusing effects in
Wave-wave interactions, resulting in wave focusing, are witnessed in nature. Some examples are on the open sea during storm events when waves originate from many directions. Wave-wave interactions also occur near coastal structures and rocky coastlines where reflected waves from the structure or coast may interact with other incoming waves. A wave pool or body of water may utilize wave-wave interactions to create wave focusing by arranging and orientating one or more wave making devices so that the generated waves converge with one another, as demonstrated in
Considering wave pool construction again, conventional wave pools that create waves for recreational bathers have been unsuccessful at creating commercially viable plunging and peeling waves for surfing. Such a pool or body of water requires an adequate distance of propagation to allow generated waves to transform into plunging and peeling waves as demonstrated in
The present invention, in its preferred embodiment, provides a method for generating wave focusing effects from wave-wave interactions as demonstrated by the convergence of wave 710 and 720 in
It is understood that various alternative embodiments of the present invention are possible and examples of such embodiments are disclosed herein without limiting the application of the present invention. It will become apparent to one trained in the art after reading these descriptions that the present invention by be implemented in a variety of alternative embodiments not limited to the examples disclosed.
Referring now to
The present invention is embodied by placing an angled wave making device 820 adjacent to the staggered wave making device 830 in the staggered array of wave making devices 830 to 870. The angled wave making device 820 is orientated at an acute angle 822 to the wave making device 830. The present invention is further embodied by placing a second angled wave making device 810 adjacent to the first angled wave making device 820. The second angled wave making device is orientated at an acute angle 812 to the first angled wave making device 820.
These two angled wave making devices 810 and 820 generate waves 811 and 821 respectively that propagate and converge with one another and wave 831 at region 880. This convergence of waves 811, 821, and 831 constitutes a wave-wave interaction that can result in wave focusing as demonstrated in
Referring now to
The present invention is embodied by placing an angled wave making device 920 adjacent to the wave making device 930 in the linear array of wave making devices 930 to 970. The angled wave making device 920 is orientated at an acute angle 922 to the wave making device 930. The present invention is further embodied by placing a second angled wave making device 910 adjacent to the first angled wave making device 920. The second angled wave making device is orientated parallel to the first angled wave making device 920.
These two angled wave making devices 910 and 920 generate waves 911 and 921 respectively that propagate and converge with wave 931 at region 980. This convergence of wave 911 and wave 921 with wave 931 constitutes a wave-wave interaction that may result in wave focusing as demonstrated in
Considering the acute angle 922 in
Claims
1. An apparatus for improving the creation of plunging and peeling waves comprising:
- a body of water;
- at least one wave making device positioned in the body of water; and at least one angled wave making device placed adjacent to the at least one wave making device;
- wherein said at least one angled wave making device is orientated such that waves generated from said at least one angled wave making device converge with the waves generated from the at least one wave making device.
2. The apparatus of claim 1 including a plurality of said wave making devices.
3. The apparatus of claim 1 including a plurality of said angled wave making devices.
4. The apparatus of claim 1 including a plurality of said wave making devices and a plurality of said angled wave making devices.
5. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein said plurality of wave making devices is arranged linearly.
6. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein said plurality of wave making devices is arranged linearly.
7. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein said plurality of wave making devices is arranged in a staggered manner.
8. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein said plurality of wave making devices is arranged in a staggered manner.
9. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein an acute angle is formed between said at least one wave making device and said at least one angled wave making device.
10. A method for improving the creation plunging and peeling waves in a body of water comprising the steps of:
- providing at least one wave making device in the body of water;
- and providing at least one angled wave making device in the body of water;
- positioning said at least one angled wave making device at an angle to said at least one wave making device;
- and creating plunging and peeling waves from the convergence of waves generated by said at least one wave making device and said at least one angled wave making device.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein said step of providing at least one wave making device comprises providing a plurality of said wave making devices and arranging said plurality of wave making devices linearly.
12. The method of claim 10, wherein said of step of providing at least one wave making device comprises providing a plurality of said wave making devices and arranging said plurality of wave making devices in a staggered manner.
13. The method of claim 10, wherein said step of providing at least one angled wave making device comprises providing a plurality of said angled wave making devices.
14. The method of claim 10, wherein the angle is an acute angle.
Type: Application
Filed: May 15, 2011
Publication Date: Sep 1, 2011
Inventor: Justin Enjo (Lake Worth, FL)
Application Number: 13/107,945
International Classification: A47K 3/10 (20060101);