Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU), NHERI 2022: Analysis of wave energy dissipation underneath a floating vegetated canopy with suspended kelp via optical motion capture

This study presents a novel method for analyzing the motion and dynamics of suspended kelp strands underneath a floating vegetated canopy using optical motion capture technology. The motion of kelp strands resulting from incident waves with height h = 0.2m and periods T = 2s and T = 4s was recorded at multiple heights along three kelp strands underneath a full-scale physical model floating vegetated canopy using an optical motion tracking software called Qualisys. A semi-empirical model of kelp motion was developed and compared against experimental data. The model was hypothesized to be directly correlated to the wave energy dissipation, but preliminary results suggest otherwise.