He added: “What is unique about this structure is that it interacts with the water, guiding it to a particular destination rather than breaking it up and sending it everywhere.
“It is as though the defences are invisible to the wave and as such it does not recognise the structure as an obstacle – this makes it easier to manipulate water waves.
“We now need to investigate how to replicate this effect in a ‘real’ life situation to protect land from natural disasters such as tsunamis and defend other structures such as oil rigs in the ocean.”
