Wave-break system designed to protect shoreline, marinas

Published on January 19th, 2009

Published on January 31st, 2010

Dave Wilson has a new pipe dream. The long-time builder of commercial and residential floating docks has patented an innovative wave-break system using plastic pipe that he hopes to market.

The system is designed to provide protection on at least one side for shorelines, marinas and other such structures.

Perhaps by late February, Wilson’s company, Bear River Plastic Welding http://www.plasticweld.ns.ca/ , will install a trial system in waters off Digby wharf. An earlier version has been in place in St. Margaret’s Bay near Chester, but this latest version will get more in-depth study.

Wilson says the second-phase testing will be use a 200-foot long section in exposed areas of the Annapolis Basin. Instruments will measure wave height, length and intensity before and after the wave break.

The figures will give the percentage of wave energy removed from the wave as it passes through the wave break, he said.

Wilson’s aim is to remove 80 per cent of the energy from a wave, effectively knocking a six-foot wave down to a one-foot wave.

He says that open ocean testing of the system has already shown a few surprising things. “As the wave height increased, the wave break leaned into the wave, changing the angle in relation to the wave, thus making it the first self-adjusting wave break.”

The current system will handle waves up to six feet in height, and comes with an inherent safety factor if waves grow larger. The wave-break system submerges in big seas until waves subside.

Wilson also found that as the wind and wave met the wave break, they were separated and there was a calming affect for a considerable distance.

The wave break is built of the same high-density polyethylene pipe used for the pontoons in docks built by Wilson’s company. The pipe has become a standard in the aquaculture industry because of its strength and resistance to UV rays.

The physical strength will be important because Wilson has another market in mind for the floating pipe sections—the world’s navies.

Impact strength will be tested by sailing different size ships at varying speeds into the wave break to measure its ability to stop a possible terrorist attack on naval ships while in port.

A 50-foot by eight-foot wide section using Wilson’s unique design weighs 6,500 pounds, and is welded as one piece regardless of length. Sections can be transported from Wilson’s Cornwallis Park plant and then welded together before being towed into position where they will be moored.