In dock construction, in general terms, the less wave energy absorbed by your dock, the better. The greater the degree to which your dock or pier can be invisible to wave action the less stress placed on your docks construction. A quick internet image search can show the effects that wind, waves, and storm surge can have on a dock. Inland lake docks above the frost line can be picked up and moved, flipped, twisted, or all the above. On the coast the constant pounding of the waves from underneath the dock can work the piling loose from the seafloor and tear away the decking from the dock surface. In any dock application wind, waves, and storm surge can almost instantly lay waste to your investment in your waterfront and cost you more money and precious leisure time to rebuild.
Using a grated decking product, like SunWalk™ 45 or 90 Series decking, can help a great deal in mitigating the effects of heavy weather on your dock or jetty. Being 45% open; wind, waves and surge are offered the opportunity to go through the deck instead of pushing on a solid decking surface. Wind can go through the dock surface, instead of turning your aluminum dock into a wood or metal sail at the mercy of the elements. Until now grated products in the market ranged from a low of around 43% to around 45% open. With an open area delta of only a couple of percent, the difference in wave performance between the designs of these products has been assumed to be relatively small. However, a recent study has found there is a relatively large difference between the performance of these products.
A recent study has found that SunWalk™ decking performs better than two of the other grated decking solutions of the market. SunWalk™ , significantly, actually performs almost 14% better (13.9% at 18° & 12.1% at 8°) than the other leading decking product at letting wave energy pass through. The recent study performed at the Large Scale Wave Flume at the University of Hawaii (UH) at Manoa was designed to asses which grating products selected were the best at attenuating waves, however the results also show us the ability of the surface to let wave energy pass through the grating. The general process for this study consisted of testing each of four grating materials installed in a wave flume at two slopes and submerged at four different water levels. Capacitance type wave probes were utilized to record the wave (water level) time series at two locations simultaneously, at a sampling rate of 50 Hz. The measured input wave height and reflected wave height were used to calculate a reflection coefficient for each material, at each water level, at each slope. If a decking product performs well at attenuating waves relative to another decking product, it performs poorly, again relatively, in allowing wave energy to pass through.
The study showed that, while the gratings had similar open area, their performance as a wave attenuator was significantly influenced by the shape and state of the cavity behind the grating. The transmission extrusion (of the wave) through the face of the grating (both directions) is the point when the grating absorbs energy and reduces wave height by interfering with the wave particle orbital motions via interaction with the grating cell walls.
In this study SunWalk™ performed almost 14% better than the other product at not attenuating waves, but allowing more of the wave energy to pass through the grating surface. Is 14% a big deal? It could be the difference between and “A” and a “B-“ letter grade, you be the judge. Generally, if one product can perform 10-15% better than another, it’s worth investigating. If you are paying the same money…do you want grade “A” decking or decking that gets a B-?When you are deciding on your dock, and with all other things being equal, do the results of this study make a difference? As in all things, being the best product is always about getting the details right, this is a good detail to get right.
About SunWalk™
SunWalk™ is the product of our best technology and manufacturing in the decking surfaces space. We’ve spent the research and development time to create the best possible decking products for your application. We’ve aimed to make the toughest, longest-lasting, most environmentally friendly, people centered surface you can buy for your dock, walk or deck.
We design, engineer, manufacture and distribute in our wholly owned, class leading facility. We control the whole process giving us unparalleled control over our product & processes translating, we believe into better quality and quicker response to our customers. Others outsource or distribute, but we do it all and we believe we do it better.
Don’t take our word alone for any of this, talk to a SunWalk™ customer, dealer or contractor and test our product for yourself. We’re confident our passion comes through in our product.
We know how you use your dock – boating, swimming, fishing, sunning and relaxing. We designed our surfaces to keep you doing more of those things and less maintenance and repair to your dock! Your leisure time is priceless, work less and enjoy more with SunWalk™!
HOW DO YOU MAKE A BETTER DOCK? SIMPLE: FINISH IT WITH A BETTER SURFACE.
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