The Physical Model

We are currently in the process of building a 1:50 scale model of the city of Seaside, Oregon. The houses, commercial buildings, hotels and parking structures will be represented by various model elements. Houses will be represented by yellow wooden blocks bolted to the floor of the wave basin. Concrete pavers represent the idealized commercial buildings like restaurants and shops. Custom commercial buildings are represented by blue wooden boxes. These buildings are of particular interest to our research because of their size (especially height) and their proximity to the shoreline. ADVs and force transducers will be used to measure flow velocity, height, and wave force both in the flow field (the model area) and in a control area free from structures, for comparative purposes. Visible scales may be added to the sides of the custom commercial buildings in order to visualize inundation and calibrate the cameras and other instrumentation. Concrete 3 inches thick was poured on top of the floor of the wave basin to have the same effect as the real-life seawall upon which many of the hotels, the famous turnaround, and the boardwalk, or Promenade, sits. The model will consist of 125 idealized homes, 75 idealized commercial buildings, and 13 custom commercial buildings. Streets have been plotted based on coordinates picked from satellite images of Seaside. The location of the Necanicum River, to the east of the tourist center of Seaside, was plotted in this manner as well. The streets and river were painted onto the floor of the wave basin with an enamel paint for visibility and durability underwater.