Mini Wave Flume Training Guide
Developed for National Engineering Week 2011
Alicia Lyman-Holt
O.H. Hinsdale Wave Research Laboratory
Oregon State University
Corvallis, Oregon
541-737-3665
alicia.lyman-holt@oregonstate.edu
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Introduction
This guide is meant to help introduce and train volunteers who are participating in the MiniWave Flume Structure Challenge. This guide will provide information and guidance about the general
concepts that should be communicated as well as the general tasks required for the successful
implementation of the activity.
Overview
The Mini-Wave Flume Structure Challenge allows children and families a basic introduction to
forces on a structure, engineering as socially relevant, and a quick problem solving activity. The activity
consists of three stations: introduction, building and testing. Each family group should spend between
15-20 minutes total in the activity area. The main concept to communicate is that
engineers/engineering help people. The families will be given a short (2-3 minute) introduction, then
they will build a small Lego structure to help protect a Lego person from a wave, then the structure will
be placed into the mini-wave flume and tested with 1 large wave.
Key Concepts:
The major concepts to communicate are:
 Engineers and Engineering help people
The major goal of all types of engineering is to help people, and specifically this activity is
helping protect people from waves.
 Engineering uses creative problem solving
Highlighting the use of creating problem solving as a method of engineering is important,
engineers use their creative thinking as much as their science and math skills
 Wave forces can damage structures
Wave forces can come from many different sources, tsunamis, hurricanes, storms, and they
cause damage to coastal structures which causes loss of life, and productivity.
Volunteers will rotate between the following three stations:
Station 1 – Introduction
In the first station the goal is to explain the activity and provide a brief explanation of the engineering
concepts. The first station also helps control flow, so that people do not get backed up at the other two
stations. One person will explain the activity and lead the discussion, and the other(s) will help direct
participants to the appropriate area. Important content for station 1:
 Start by welcoming the group and thanking them for join us
 Explain that our activity focuses on coastal engineering and protecting coastal structures
from wave forces.
 Ask what sorts of waves might impact (hit) structures on the coast – potential answers would
be Tsunami, Hurricane, and Storm
 Ask what sort of structures might be hit by waves – houses, stores, schools
 Ask why we want to protect these structures
 Explain the activity as helping a Lego person be protected from a wave; this wave could be a
tsunami, hurricane or storm.
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 Explain that children (families) will be building structures to protect a Lego person from a
wave. Each child will get one scoop of Legos and will be limited to that amount of Legos to
use, as engineers are limited by time and money. Then they will install the structure into
the mini-wave flume and test it against the wave. Also explain that there is a limited amount
of time (5-8 minutes) to build the structures.
 All small groups of people who have heard the introduction to start building.
Station 2 – Building
At this station the goal is to facilitate the building of structures by participants. Volunteers will hand out
scoops of Legos, answer questions and keep people moving. One volunteer will be assigned to each of
the three tables. The general goal is to have participants build for no more than 8 minutes. It is
important to keep in mind that some participants or their parents may want more time and to politely
encourage them to hurry, but not to be in conflict with them. Most people will respect this. Also
limiting participants to 1 scoop (~ 1/3 of cup) of Legos is important. Finally answering questions about
how a wave might affect the structure or how to build the structures will be anther task at station 2.
Some questions to ask:
 How strong do you think that will be?
 Where will the water go (around the structure)?
 How tall should the building be?
 Where will the person be safest?
 What famous technologies were developed by engineers? Has anybody ever heard of
TV, the Internet, iPods, airplanes, satellites, ….?
 Let me see a show of hands, how many engineers do we have in the audience?
 Who wants to be an engineer when they grow up? Can you tell me what you need to
study in school to be an engineer?
Station 3 – Testing
At this station participants will test their structures; there are several discrete tasks at this station.
 Installation – this person interacts directly with families and places the structure into the tank
and places a Lego person on top.
 Decommissioning – this person (or people) take a part the structures after testing, dry them
off and return them to the building station.
 Running waves – a specific person running waves.
Things to say/questions to ask at this station:
 This is a wave tank. At the Oregon State Wave Lab, engineers use wave tanks to study
coastal hazards. We can make waves up to 5 feet high!
This equipment can make waves of different sizes and speeds. Can anybody think of other
ways we could make waves?
 In nature, waves are generated by….(wind, changes in the sea floor – Tsunamis)
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Look how the wave changes shape as it moves down the flume…. Who can tell me why
the wave changes shape? (as it moves up the ramp it will start to shorten and break)
How do hurricane waves and tsunami waves look? Are they just one giant wave?
Engineers often model nature in the lab, and make it simpler to study just one part, for
example wave impact on a structure.
Why would we want to study nature in the lab?
What other things do engineers try to simulate in laboratories?
Has anybody ever heard of a wind tunnel? What famous engineers used wind tunnels
to study wing shapes to prepare for their first flight?
What can you do when you go home to learn more about engineering? TV shows like
Design Squad (PBS), websites, after school activities, science fair projects, museums like
Air & Space, science museums,
Background Information about Tsunamis:
From TeachEngineering.Org
(http://www.teachengineering.org/view_lesson.php?url=http://www.teachengineering.org/collection/c
ub_/lessons/cub_natdis/cub_natdis_lesson06.xml)
The word tsunami comes from the Japanese words for harbor and wave, tsu and nami. A tsunami is an
ocean wave that results from a large displacement of the sea floor. Tsunamis range in size from just a
meter high to more than 300 meters (1,000 feet) high. The tsunami that struck the Indian Ocean on
December 26, 2004, had a maximum height of more than 30 meters (100 feet) when it struck the
shoreline.
The waves we typically see in oceans, lakes and other bodies of water are usually formed by wind. These
waves are just disturbances of the surface and do not extend more than a few meters underwater.
Tsunamis differ from normal waves in that they are disturbances that stretch all the way to the floor of
the ocean, which can be many kilometers deep.
What Causes a Tsunami?
A tsunami is formed when the sea floor moves abruptly. This is usually caused by an earthquake, but can
also be caused by volcanoes and landslides.
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Tsunamis resulting from earthquakes are formed
when the sea floor moves violently upward as
tectonic plates slide against each other (see Figure
2). The sea floor moving upward pushes the water
above it upward. This causes a ripple that spreads
out from the epicenter in much the same way that
the ripples spread out from a pebble thrown into a
pond. This ripple is typically no more than a meter
high and is barely noticeable to someone in a boat.
The speed of the tsunami depends on the depth of
the ocean, but typically they move at about 800 kph
(500 mph) – as fast as an airplane.
As the tsunami gets closer to land, the depth of the
water decreases so the energy from the wave gets
compressed. This causes the wave to slow down
and increase in height (see Figure 2). By the time
the tsunami reaches shore, it has slowed from 800
kph (500 mph) to about 48 kph (30 mph). As the
wave hits the coast, it usually does not come in as a
smooth wave like the ones you see surfers ride.
Tsunamis typically form a bore along the front edge.
A bore is a violently churning mass of water. Behind
the bore is a large swell of water that floods the
Figure 2. How an underwater earthquake causes a
coastline. Besides earthquakes, tsunamis can also
tsunami.
be caused by volcanoes and landslides.
Most tsunamis go unnoticed; only those that kill lots
of people gain public attention. For example, during
the past 100 years, there have been more than 200 tsunamis in the Pacific Ocean alone. See Table 1 for
a list of notable Tsunamis from the last 200 years.
Notable Tsunamis
11/01/1775
Portugal
Earthquake
08/27/1883
Krakatoa,
Indoesia
Grand Banks
Canada
Vocalno
Aleutian Islands,
Alaska
Lituya Bay,
Alaska
Earthquake
11/18/1929
04/01/1946
07/09/1958
Landslide triggered
by an Earthquake
Landslide triggered
by an earthquake
Between a massive earthquake and the
resulting tsunami more than 60,000 people
died
Following the eruption of Krakatoa, a tsunami
killed 36,000 people in Indonesia
A landslide cut several trans-Atlantic telegraph
cable and the resulting tsunami killed 29
people in Newfoundland
A tsunami affected the coast of Alaska as well
as Hawaii, 159 people lost their lives.
The wave reached a height of 1720 feet but
since it was in isolated location , only one boat
sank
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5/22/1960
Chile
Earthquake
03/27/1964
Valdez, Alaska
08/23/1976
01/17/1998
Philippines
Papua New
Guinea
Sumarta,
Indonesia
Earthquake and
Landslide
Earthquake
Earthquake
12/26/2004
Earthquake
7/17/2006
Java
Earthquake
4/1/2007
Solomon Islands
Earthquake
9/29/2009
Samoa
Earthquake
2/27/2010
Chile
Earthquake
10/25/2010
Mentawai,
Indonesia,
Earthquake
The wave had a maximum height of 75 feet
causing 1500 people to lose their lives
The resulting tsunami hit Alaska, Oregon and
Northern California at least 122
8000 casualties
A 7.1 magnitude earthquake resulted in a 2200
lives lost
A 9.15 earthquake in the Andaman Sea created
a massive Indian Ocean tsunami; 200,00 +
people died as a result
A 7.7 earth quake resulted in 600 deaths
A 8.1 earthquake caused run up of 12 meters
and resulted in 52 deaths on these small
island.
A 8.1 earthquake generated a 22 meter runup
and 189 deaths.
124 people died due to the 29 meter tsunami
generated by the 8.8 earthquake. Note more
people died in the earthquake.
A 7.6 M earthquake resulted in 17 meter
runup and 500 deaths.
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