Test tank of the Ports Laboratory, Civil Engineering Technical School

The Ports and Coasts Laboratory of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid consists of a 52-metre-long channel with a 1 metre-wide by 1.5-metre high cross-section. It is able to generate regular and irregular waves of up to 0.45 metres in a depth of 1 metre. It has reflected-wave absorption control and it controls dissipation using polyurethane foam. It also has a tank or pool for three-dimensional testing, which occupies the central part of the building; it has a depth of 1.36 metres, a width of 11 metres and a length of 33 metres. The bottom of the tank is finished in in situ terrazzo and the vertical walls are finished in continuous tiling, fitted with an anti-reflection system using 10 ppi polyurethane foams. Multi-directional waves are generated with absorption control, by moving individual paddles, and can reach up to 1 metre. The wave maker, which comprises 16 paddles measuring 0.70 metres in width and 1.30 metres in length, has the following performance: H = 0.25 metres in water 0.60 metres deep. The wave generation and calibration process is computerised by means of a workstation, a communications card, a conversion unit and an interface with a connection card for at least eight differential analogue input channels or 16 common channels and two analogue output channels. The facility is complemented by wave measurement, programming and calibration equipment; data acquisition and analysis equipment, and a small calculation centre with mathematical and numerical models for comparison.