Generation of progressive wave in a drum centrifuge

Wave-induced liquefaction of seabed has caused many serious disasters in offshore engineering. It has always been a key point to consider in the design. However, wave-induced liquefaction is very difficult to simulate in small wave flume because the generated waves at 1 g conditions will be insufficient severe to cause seafloor liquefaction due to the limited size of flume. In this paper, generation of progressive linear waves was carried out within the channel of a new drum centrifuge GT450/1.4 installed at Dalian University of Technology in 2009. The wave generation system includes a paddle-type wave maker driven by a servomotor of 200 W and a double beach-type wave absorber, which is designed to make progressive linear wave of different wave heights and wave frequencies. Pore pressure transducers and a new wave height device were used to measure wave pressures and wave fluctuations separately to compare the similarity with the prototype. The validity of generated wave was checked according to wave theory through analyzing many series of test results. Compared with previous wave makers in centrifuge, the new system was proven to be able to make higher waves with the advantage of bigger-size channel of new drum centrifuge, which provides a basis for the future study on wave-induced liquefaction.