|
|
ANACONDA |
|
WAVE ENERGY BULGING SNAKE
HOME BULGE WAVES DOWNLOADS WHO NEWS
BULGE
WAVES
Bulge waves in
distensible tubes are described by Lighthill ("Waves in fluids",
Cambridge, 1978). A good example
is the pressure pulse which travels along your arteries.
Typically a rubber
tube filled with water will bulge locally when squeezed; and this bulge will
propagate along the tube at a speed c
given by
.jpg)
Here E is the tensile
modulus of the rubber, d the diameter of the tube, h its wall thickness
and rho is the
density of water. You can control
the speed by choosing the dimensions of the tube and the properties of the
rubber.
The bulge wave is a wave of
pressure, associated with a longitudinal oscillation of fluid, forwards and
backwards along the tube. When the
pressure is high, the water is flowing forwards, when it is low the water is
flowing backwards. This wave
carries energy.
The mathematics of a bulge
tube in the sea has been worked out.
If the bulge in the tube travels at the same speed as the wave, then
there is a resonant interaction and the bulge grows linearly along the
tube. Typically in the north
Atlantic, a tube 7m in diameter and 150m long would collect an average power over the year of about one megawatt. The capital cost per
megawatt is likely to be about £2-3 million, much less than existing wave power
converters.
To learn more, download our
technical memo anaconda.pdf.
HOME BULGE WAVES DOWNLOADS WHO NEWS
website designed by Francis J M Farley