Un esperimento di avanguardia nel campo dell'idraulica marittima davanti alla città di Reggio Calabria

The experiments on wave mechanics executed in Reggio Calabria were the first performed directly in the sea. Various field measurements have been conducted for investigating the sea wave statistics (crest-through distribution, wave spectra, etc.), but the experiments on wave mechanics (for instance, classical verification of the Stokes’ theory) ware conceived only in basins with artificially generated waves.
The paper disseminates the first experiments performed in Reggio Calabria. The aim of the experiment is to assess the reliability of the Quasi-Determinism theory (Boccotti, 1998) in a progressive wave field. At this purpose, eight pressure transducers have been utilized for capturing high wave groups and for verifying the mechanics predicted by the theory. The experiments represents an absolute novelty in the field of Ocean engineering and prove that, even a small, newly established, University can propose remarkable scientific results thanks to the commitment of the works personnel, despite the limited structural capability.