Japanese Scientists Develop a Movable Wave Barrier System and Power Generation Turbines to Effectively Protect Ports.
The Movable Wave Barrier can be raised and lowered to protect coastal towns from tsunamis. However, in situations where there is a power outage and they do not function, disasters may occur. To address this issue, a research team at the Tokyo Institute of Technology proposed a barrier that can generate its own electricity, as reported by New Atlas on January 25.
The movable wave barrier will be raised to protect the port from tsunamis. (Photo: Tokyo Institute of Technology).
According to the U.S. Tsunami Warning System, there are only about two tsunamis each year worldwide that cause damage or fatalities. Strong tsunamis capable of causing destruction or loss of life can occur more than 1,000 km away from their source, with an average frequency of about two per decade. Nevertheless, tsunamis remain one of the planet’s most destructive phenomena, and in Japan—country that experiences approximately 20% of the world’s tsunamis—this is a constant threat.
One measure to prevent or mitigate damage is to install large barriers on the seabed around ports. These barriers can be quickly raised when disaster strikes. However, in the event of a power outage after a disaster, lowering them for the port to return to normal operations becomes a challenge.
In the new research, experts proposed installing short, movable wave barriers at each port, with a 30 cm gap between them. In the gaps are small tidal power turbines that can generate excess electricity to operate winches—devices that help lower the barriers to the seabed so the port can resume operations after the danger has passed.
The barrier system generates enough electricity to operate autonomously, and when there are no tsunamis, it can also produce up to 1,000 kWh of clean energy per tidal cycle. This electricity will be supplied to the local community.
However, not all areas can accommodate this system. The research team evaluated approximately 56 ports in Japan and found that only 23 of these could generate enough electricity to lower the barriers.
“To our knowledge, there is no system in the world that uses movable wave barriers to produce electricity and utilizes that very electricity to operate. Under the harsh natural disaster conditions in Japan, if this new movable wave barrier technology can be established through this research, it could certainly be exported and implemented abroad as a groundbreaking disaster prevention technology in the future,” said Professor Hiroshi Takagi, the project leader.
