The ability to predict the hydrodynamic force exerted on floating bodies plays a critical role in creating more effective control strategies for wave energy converters (WECs). Developing a test apparatus capable of directly measuring the forces exerted on a floating body subjected to a wavefield provides the means to validate theoretical prediction methods with experimental results and to develop data-based prediction methods for hydrodynamic forces. This report will discuss the development and validation of a device that measures the total vertical force exerted on a test artifact. The device requirements and design are discussed to examine the factors taken into consideration during the device’s development. Validation experiments were conducted to verify that the design functioned as intended. Representative experiments were completed to demonstrate how the hydrodynamic force can be obtained experimentally and provide illustrative examples of how these experiments would be conducted using the device
