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Sponsors of INORE
INORE is proud to present their main 09/10 sponsors Statkraft, Vattenfall and Marin, without whom our existence would not have been possible. INORE would also like to thank their Symposium sponsors PRIMaRE, RegenSW, PML Applications Ltd and RPS. The Symposium is being run in association with wavetrain2.
Sponsors of INORE
www.marin.nl
For more than 75 years, the Maritime Research Institute Netherlands (MARIN) has been contributing to the development of safe and economic ships and offshore structures. This is done through model tests, simulations and full-scale measurements. With the resulting knowledge of the ocean environment and the hydrodynamics of ships and offshore structures, MARIN sees it as its responsibility to contribute to the development of renewable energy offshore from waves, tides and wind. For that purpose 7 dedicated testing facilities are available (see www.marin.nl). MARIN has a special Renewable ENergy Team (RENT), willing to assist in research and applications (student places are available on regular basis). RENT is a MARIN-wide team of specialists covering all the aspects of offshore renewable energy. The team comprises (from left to right, sitting): Haite van der Schaaf (modeling of Power Take Off), Hans Cozijn (Mooring), Erik Jan de Ridder (Wind energy), Pieter Aalbers (Full-scale measurements), Rien de Meij (Installation). From left to right, standing: Sebastien Gueydon (Time domain simulations), Guilherme Vaz (CFD), Bas Buchner (Offshore and wave energy, team leader), Gert-Jan Zondervan (Propulsors and turbines), Tom van Terwisga (Propulsors and turbines), Koos Hoefakker (Model testing) and Christian Schmittner (Wave energy and Seakeeping). To contact us: [email protected]
Sponsors of INORE
The wavetrain2 project continues with the research carried on by the previous project wavetrain. It is a multinational Initial Training Network (ITN) funded under the FP7-People program, in order to face the wide range of challenges that industrial-scale wave energy implementation faces in the near future, focusing on technical issues, from hydrodynamic and PTO (Power Take-Off) design, to instrumentation issues and energy storage and cost reduction show to be critical for successful deployment. On the other hand, also non-technical “barriers”, typically less tangible difficulties related to legal issues (licensing, conflicts of use, EIA procedures, grid connection, regional differences) and the non-sufficient representation of socio-economic benefits of the sector, will be dealt with, as they are seen as a major obstacle for fast implementation on a European scale. The network consists of 13 European partner institutions and 17 associated entities, from research units and device developers to project developers and consultants. Partners: 1 - Wave Energy Centre - Centro de Energia das Ondas (WavEC - Portugal) 2 - Instituto Superior Técnico (IST - Portugal) 3 - Queen’s University Belfast (QUB - United Kingdom) 4 - The University of Edingurgh (UEDIN- United Kingdom) 5 - Wave Dragon Ltd. (WD- United Kingdom) 6 - Aalborg Universiteit (AAU - Denmark) 7 - SPOK APS (SPOK - Denmark) 8 - Tecbhische Universiteir (TUDelft - The Netherlands) 9 - AWS Ocean Energy Ltd (AWS - United Kingdom)10 - Ecole Centrale de Nantes (ECN - France) 11 - University College Cork (UCC_HMRC - Ireland 12 - Norges Teknisk - Naturvitenskapelige (NTNU - Norway) 13 - Fundacion Robotiker (TECNALIA-RBTK- Spain). Associated Partners: 1 - Instituto Nacional de Engenharia, Tecnologia e Inovação, I.P (INETI - Portugal) 2 - EDP - Energias de Portugal (EDP - Portugal) 3 - EFACEC Sistemas de Electrónica, SA (Efacec - Portugal)4 - Kymaner Lda. (Kymaner - Portugal) 5 - Martifer Equipamentos para Energia SA (Martifer - Portugal) 6 - Norvento Enerxia (Norvento - Spain) 7 - Aquamarine Ltd (Aqua - United Kingdom) 8 - Instituto Tec-nológico de Canarias (ITC - Spain) 9 - Swansea University (SwanU - United Kingdom)10 - WAVEenergy AS (WaveSSG - Norway) 11 - Second University of Naples (SUN - Italy) 12 - Teamwork Technology BV (TT - The Netherlands) 13 - Saipem SA (Saimpem - France) 14 - Ocean Energy Ltd. (OE - Ireland) 15 - Fred Olsen Ltd (FO - Norway) 16 - Ente Vasco de la Energia (EVE - Spain) 17 - Garrad Hassan and Partners Ltd (GH - United Kingdom)
Symposium run in association with wavetrain2
The Peninsula Research Institute for Marine Renewable Energy (PRIMaRE), a joint venture between the Universities of Plymouth and Exeter, has brought to-gether a team of international research-ers and world class facilities to accelerate the development of technology and address the most critical challenges facing the marine renewable energy industry.
PRIMaRE collaborates with industry to support research and development
activity across a number of areas, including; design, engineering, environmental impact and grid connection.
PRIMaRE continues to support the pioneering Wave Hub project, which will create the world's largest wave energy array test site, 10 miles off the Cornish coast.
PRIMaRE is funded by the South West Regional Development Agency and ERDF Convergence and Competitiveness programmes.
Symposium sponsors
The 4th INORE Symposium 2010. This time it’s personal!
A warm and no-doubt well earned welcome to Dartmouth, England and to the 4th Symposium of the International Network on Offshore Renewable Energy! For those of you who were lucky enough to attend last years event in Ghent, It’s great to have you back and little needs to be said of the INORE Symposium and its well earned reputation as a valuable academic and networking event. For those of you who are new to INORE and wondering what to expect, thanks for coming and we hope you’ll be pleasantly surprised in the coming week! Our mission statement; ‘realising the potential of young researchers and offshore renewable energy’ is something we hold dear, and the essence of that goal is never more potent then at this, our highlight event, the annual symposium.
This year, as in those before, we have created an itinerary which we hope shall provide you with insight into some of the multidisciplinary range of academic research within the sector as well as offering a key opportunity for you to meet like minded researchers, share ideas for collaboration and help gel the wider marine renewable research community together for the benefit of all.
In addition to this, we’ve shamelessly engineered this year’s agenda to ensure that engagement and interaction are compulsory. With everyone presenting a short ‘quick-fire’ presentation, the panel discussion assembly, our new collaboration sessions and a host of social activities, we hope to get you off your seats and talking as much as possible. Presentations, discussions, guest speakers, poster sessions, prizes, transport, entertainment, surfing lessons, football, banquets, barbecues and even a little sleep are all provided for you. All that we ask of you is your enthusiasm. Engage in the sessions, question the presenters, help shape the collaborations and speak out when you feel you need to!
This booklet is your guide to the Symposium. In it you will find all abstracts of
attendees, details on all the Symposium keynote speakers and contact details for
everyone.
And last of all, (and in case we need to state the obvious), make sure you have a
great week! Welcome to the INORE Symposium 2010.
Welcome note
New to INORE? INORE, the International Network on Offshore Renewable Energy. Created in 2007 by young researchers at NTNU, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, who wanted to promote international networking between early-stage researchers (PhD students, post-doctorates, etc…), to bolster collaborative research, and provide an open and engaging interface between industry representatives and young academics. Each year has seen the diversity of the network expand from the engineering disciplines focusing on technological barriers of offshore energy generation (namely offshore wind, wave, tidal, etc…) to include researchers from ecologists to economists covering environmental impact assessments, policy and social acceptance. INORE is here to provide an open and engaging platform for young researchers from all over the world to realize their potential and find their place in the offshore energy community.
Symposium lowdown This is our flagship event, at the start of every INORE year the focus of the steering committee is on raising the funds to host this four day event. In order to make it accessible to all, INORE provides food and accommodation for successful applicants as well as a travel grant, in return participants are fully immersed in a hectic schedule of presentations, poster sessions group tasks, keynote speakers and of course, networking activities. There are no pick and mix options. By the end of the week you will have sixty new colleagues, the most up to date snapshot of current research and development in the offshore energy industry and a picture of where your research fits into the broader aims of a renewable ocean energy industry.
This would not be achievable to so many without the help of our main sponsors and our symposium sponsors, thank you.
INOREan Ethos “Informal yet professional” – the aim of INORE is to create an open, fun and friendly atmosphere in which early stage researchers can present their work, question others work , discover opportunities, and develop collaborations that ultimately lead to the solutions they need. INORE aims to create community of like minded people, industry and academics alike, working towards the same goals.
Steering Committee 09/10....
Recent developments In association with the IEA-OES, a brand new, streamlined INORE website will be re-launched at the end of May. In addition to the usual news features, events calendar and vacancies the new site will include expanded member profiles including contributions to the symposium, posters and presentations, with additional information on publications. An improved search facility to browse member content and a wiki section for sharing information through adding and editing articles are integrated within the new site. Last year saw the launch of the ICIS, INORE Collaboration Incentive Scheme, which awarded grants of €250 to five pairs of INOREans, each pair representing two different research institutes. This scheme will be continued for 2010/2011. The outcomes of which will be published on our website this month.
How it works? Since 2007 the network has been managed by a steering committee of six PhD students. Every year a new committee is elected at the annual symposium, a minimum of two previous members must remain to ensure continuity within the network. The roles of the committee are defined as Chair, Treasurer, PR and Web master, Communications Coordinator, Symposium Organiser and Sponsorship Coordinator. In reality it’s a huge team effort, all positions are part time and the dedication and the initiative of the committee members is truly outstanding. The contribution from INOREans is the backbone of the network, while the committee facilitates the events the members have made the networks reputation through their enthusiastic involvement.
This years committee positions were filled by Mairéad Atcheson, Sarah Caraher, Lander Victor, Tom McCombes, Angus Vantoch-Wood and Julien Cretel (L-R).
Symposium Timetable
TIM
E M
ON
DA
Y 1
0th
TU
ESD
AY
11
th
WED
NES
DA
Y 1
2th
TH
UR
SDA
Y 1
3th
FR
I. 1
4th
08
:00
B
reak
fast
8.3
0 B
reak
fast
B
reak
fast
B
reak
fast
Bu
s to
Tre
mo
ugh
Bre
akfa
st
9.0
0 Q
UIC
K F
IRE'
s 1
Q
UIC
K F
IRE'
s 7
P
aral
lel S
ess
ion
s 1
: W
EC M
od
elli
ng:
B
us
fr
om
YH
A
9.3
0 Q
UIC
K F
IRE'
s 2
Q
UIC
K F
IRE'
s 8
P
aral
lel S
ess
ion
s 2
: Ti
dal
Mo
de
llin
g
10
.00
QU
ICK
FIR
E's
3
QU
ICK
FIR
E's
9
Par
alle
l Se
ssio
ns
3:
Futu
re T
oo
ls
10
.30
Co
ffe
e B
reak
C
off
ee
Bre
ak
Co
ffe
e B
reak
11
.00
QU
ICK
FIR
E's
4
KEY
NO
TE 1
:
Ye
Li,
NR
EL
Par
alle
l Se
ssio
ns
4:
Eco
logy
/ So
cial
Tr
ave
l (A
)
PR
IMaR
E Ta
lk
(B)
1
1.3
0 Q
UIC
K F
IRE'
s 5
K
EYN
OTE
2:
Ker
stin
Str
an-
dan
ger,
Vat
ten
fall
PC
P
aral
lel S
ess
ion
s 5
: C
om
bin
ed
Te
chn
ol-
ogy
Su
rf L
ess
on
(A
) 1
2.0
0 Q
UIC
K F
IRE'
s 6
G
rou
p T
ask
Tim
e
Gro
up
Tas
k W
rap
up
12
.30
Lun
ch
Lun
ch
Lun
ch
Trav
el (
B)
(Pac
k Lu
nch
!)
13
.00
Trav
el (
A)
(Pac
k Lu
nch
!)
13
.30
PO
STER
TIM
E
Gro
up
Tas
k P
rep
arat
ion
Tim
e
TASK
SU
BM
ISSI
ON
Surf
Le
sso
n
(B)
14
.00
Gro
up
Tas
k Se
t u
p
GR
OU
P P
RES
ENTA
TIO
NS
PR
IMaR
E Ta
lk
(A)
14
.30
Gro
up
Tas
k T
ime
(i
nc.
co
ffe
e b
reak
)
15
.00
KEY
NO
TE 3
:
Ge
org
e S
mit
h, U
oE
in C
orn
-w
all
15
.30
KEY
NO
TE 4
:
Cat
he
rin
e M
itch
ell,
Uo
E in
C
orn
wal
l C
off
ee
Bre
ak
Trav
el (
B)
16
.00
KEY
NO
TE 5
:
Bas
Bu
chn
er,
MA
RIN
IN
DU
STR
Y F
EED
BA
CK
AW
AR
D &
P
RIZ
ES
CH
EESE
, WIN
E &
PO
STER
TIM
E!
Bu
s to
YH
A
16
.30
Co
ffe
e B
reak
17
.00
Bu
s to
Bre
we
ry
PA
NEL
SES
SIO
N:
Ch
air:
Fra
nk
17
.30
Bay
s B
rew
ery
Tou
r
18
.00
NEW
CO
MM
ITTE
E EL
ECTI
ON
S
18
.30
Fre
e T
ime
!!
19
.00
BB
Q T
IME
Din
ne
r 1
9.3
0 B
us
Re
turn
B
anq
ue
t 2
0.0
0 D
inn
er
INORE Symposium Collaborations…. This year we’re introducing a new element to the program that we hope you’ll find exciting, engaging, challenging and at times no doubt frustrating! Ultimately though, we believe that the collaboration sessions will give you the opportunity to shine as well as learn a great deal about your task, your fellow collaborators and about essential time management! Each team of attendees shall be given a short background and briefing on what is expected of them. Themed around technical, environmental and socio-economic challenges of the marine energy sector, these tasks are set to the high standard that we would expect from a group of internationally leading experts in the field (that’s you!) From here, the groups shall be given five dedicated hours within the symposium, (which REALLY won’t be long) to not only co-ordinate the group, tackle the problem and come to a solution but also decide on presenter(s) and produce an output. That output should be a concise, 5 to 10 minutes presentation to the rest of the symposium on the Wednesday afternoon of the event. Just to add a pinch more pressure to the mix, the questions you’ll be answering won’t be from us, (oh no, that would be FAR too easy!) We at INORE have teamed up with some of the most respectable names in the marine energy business; Statkraft, GL Garrad Hassan, MARIN, Renewable UK (Formally BWEA), Vattenfall and RegenSW who have given us these questions. During all the presentations, a panel of experts from each of these organisations (as well as the rest of the symposium) shall be watching, asking questions and judging your response!
Good luck and get collaborating!
Keynote speakers
Dr. Ye Li is a senior scientist in the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) where he leads the design and numerical investigation of tidal current energy and wave energy and also heavily evolved in other offshore renewable researches such as offshore wind and OTEC. His research interests are primarily in developing numerical method and conducting experimental test to address marine hydrodynamic problems with emphasis on offshore renewable energy devices as the applications. Besides his main duty in NREL, he serves as the chair of the US shadow committee for IEC marine system design committee's design project teams, and a technical committee member for many committees related to offshore renewable energy. Holding B.E., M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees all in Ocean Engineering, Dr.Li has many years of experience in developing numerical methods, computational programs, and conducting experimental tests to analyze ocean engineering applications, and has published many papers on these topics. He has received several international awards on oceanic engineering from governmental agencies and professional societies, e.g., ASME, IEEE, and ISOPE. Before coming to NREL, he was a research scientist in Energy Technology Group at the U.S. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory where he focused on offshore wind/tidal potential analysis and energy system modelling.
In keeping with INORE tradition, this year we have lined up a series of invited key-note speakers, with various backgrounds. These include Professor Catherine Mitchell (University of Exeter), Dr. Ye Li (NREL), Dr. Bas Buchner (Marin), Kerstin Strandanger (Vattenfall) and Professor George Smith University of Exeter).
Professor George Smith
Kerstin Strandanger is a Consultant with Vattenfall Power Consultants. She is currently mainly working with "Due Diligence" projects (for potential future Vattenfall wave parks) within the Vattenfall Ocean Energy Program. She has previously worked with standardisation within marine energy and done some general internal projects on electricity network and environmental aspects of marine energy.
Dr. Bas Buchner is a naval architect from Delft University of Technology and did his PhD on the issue of green water on ship-type offshore structures. Presently he is Vice President of the Maritime Research Institute Netherlands (MARIN) and head of the Offshore Department. He also is the leader of MARIN's Renewable Energy Team (RENT) and has applied his offshore hydrodynamics knowledge in the development of a wave energy conversion concept. He is Visiting Professor at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne.
Professor Catherine Mitchell is Professor of Energy Policy at Exeter University and has worked on energy issues for 25 years. Catherine has advised the UK and international governments on a broad range of Energy Policy issues. She is Coordinating Lead Author of the Policy, Financing & Implementation Chapter of the IPCC Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation; she is also a Lead Analyst for the Global Energy Assessment undertaken through the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA); She is also PI of an ESRC/EPSRC interdisciplinary research cluster into Energy Security in a Multi-Polar World and is a co-director of the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC).
The aim of this PhD thesis is to develop an innovative experimental facility able to reproduce precisely offshore winds, including a vertical mean gradient and
dynamic aspects (frequency spectrum, gusts). This system will be installed upon the Ocean Engineering Wave basin of Ecole Centrale de Nantes (50mx30mx5m). In its future configuration, this facility will enable the generation of both directional waves and complex wind, with offshore wind turbines testing as one
of the main targets. Based on the experience of CSTB, the principle of flow generation by centrifuge fans located behind the wave maker was selected. Flexible air ducts will be used to carry the airflow to the middle of wave tank. We are presently optimizing nozzle characteristics in the elementary case of constant, uniform flow generation. Single and multiple nozzle configurations are
being studied, in order to cope with various experimental arrangements. After optimization of the main characteristics using CFD, the wind generation system will be tested and qualified. Next step will be to add a device capable of generating an offshore wind spectrum and a given vertical mean gradient.
Finally, an experimental campaign using a generic wind turbine configuration will be carried out for a global test of the facility.
Adrien Courbois
Experimental simulation of wind and wave on offshore wind turbines
NOTES
Alex Raventos
The new European Directive on renewable energies (RES) sets binding targets of 20% of RES share of primary energy and 20% of CO2 emission reduction in 2020
with respect to 1990. In 2007 the share of RES (including waste) only accounted for 7,8% of total primary energy demand in EU. In this context, a great effort for RES massive deployment is needed to accomplish the binding objectives but still some developing technologies as ocean energy are not accounted in the EU SET-
Plan to 2020. This paper aims to present future projections of ocean energy deployment (WE) adapted from the experience in onshore and offshore wind. This approach applies similar rates of deployment as wind energy and assumes limits on the EU ocean resource exploitation. It provides data on future ocean installed capacity up to 2050 but also economic impact indicators of that
deployment as experience curves, investment, CO2 savings or reduction of energy dependence.
Future projection for ocean energy based on wind experience
NOTES
Amardeep Dhanju
Recent research indicates that offshore wind resource on the US east coast can meet most of the energy needs of the coastal states. At relatively low penetrations, integration of wind power is comparatively easy using existing
power markets. But as wind power becomes a significant part of the generation mix, its integration is more difficult. Energy storage can provide a vital buffer between electric generation and load, and facilitate greater integration of utility-scale offshore wind power. Although a variety of storage
options can be implemented, this presentation will focus on Electric Thermal Storage (ETS) in the residential sector. An important benefit of ETS is that it could be created in the existing provision of end-use energy services such as space heating and hot water. Such systems are in use in many parts of the US
to store electric energy in off-peak hours, and using storage energy for space heating and hot water during peak electrical load. Using existing communication technology such systems can be synchronized to provide wind-assisted storage. Focusing on Delaware state as a case study, I will discuss the ETS concept in residential sector, and present results from my assessment
of ETS potential in integrating offshore wind power.
Integrating Offshore Wind Power using Responsive End-use Thermal Energy Storage
NOTES
Anders Wedel Nielsen
The goal of the work is to gain an understanding of the mechanisms that cause sinking of the scour protection around monopiles. The project started with data from Horns Rev I Offshore Wind Farm. Horns Rev I is located in relatively
shallow water about 20 km off the Danish West Coast in the harsh environment in the North Sea. Three years after installation a control survey showed that the scour protections adjacent to the monopiles sank up to 1.5 m (no sinking was expected). An extensive program of physical model tests is
being carried out, including velocity measurements, flow visualizations and live bed tests to describe the sinking process. The tests include steady current, waves and combined waves and current. Different designs of scour protections are tested and the sinking recorded.A return current upstream of the pile
(horseshoe vortex) in between the stones have been identified in case of steady current. The results of the model tests show that the horseshoe vortex may explain the sinking of the scour protection at Horns Rev I.Recommendations on how to reduce the sinking will be given and, if possible, design methods eliminating the sinking will be given, as well.
Scour Protection around Offshore Wind Turbines, Monopiles
NOTES
Andrew Good
Numerical and experimental analysis of the near wake of a horizontal axis tidal turbine
The aim of the research is to gain a better understanding of the near flow field generated by a horizontal axis tidal turbine and its potential effect on power generation. The wake characteristics of such a device are affected by three
main factors; the device inflow conditions, the flow field generated by the support structure and the flow field generated by the turbine rotor. It is the interaction and relative importance of each of these inputs which is the main focus of this work. The high level application for the tidal energy industry will
be to provide useful guidance for the design of arrays and multiple turbine devices. Other applications will include scour prevention and the design of support structures to reduce obstruction of the rotor. The project applies a combined numerical and experimental approach to investigate and
characterise the profile of the velocity deficit downstream of a scaled model, resulting in the development of CFD models to be verified and validated using PIV measurements. Finally, the models will be used to predict the profile of larger scale devices. This will provide a better understanding of the influence on the full scale wake of the three factors mentioned previously.
NOTES
Andrew Vickers
For the safe operation of wave energy converters (WEC's) a deeper understanding of the moored device as a coupled system is required taking in to account the dependence on the stiffness, mass and the damping
characteristics from the body itself, the power take of system and the mooring system. In order to understand the affect of the individual system towards the coupled system, the influence of the individual parameters needs to be identified. Within WS 6 of SuperGen Marine 2 mooring systems are studied to
derive experimentally and numerically detailed characteristics for mooring configurations and materials. Analysis on experimental data from large scale tests conducted under SuperGen Marine 1 was carried out to identify the damping characteristics of the different mooring systems. The derivation of
specific damping/stiffness graphs for mooring configurations allows to build up an in depth knowledge of mooring system properties that can be implemented in numerical prediction tools. Further work will continue to derive damping properties from experimental results with the main focus on developing a numerical tool to specify reliable mooring characteristics for
specific installations that takes in to account the non-linear behaviour observed
Implementation of Mooring Criterion and their application to Arrays of Floating Marine Energy Converters
NOTES
Angus Vantoch-Wood
There is currently great concern regarding the economic viability of the wave energy sector as long term funding uncertainties, historically sporadic support policies and over optimistic device developers have damaged the credibility of
the technology as a whole. My research looks at using an evolutionary economics perspective to analyse the sector, deploying novel methodologies for systems analysis such as Social network Analysis to analyse knowledge flows and influence as well as established techniques such as patent analysis,
Phasic analysis and interviews to try and create a clearer and more robust understanding of the health of the sector overall.
Quantifying Methods for the Analysis of the UK Wave Energy
NOTES
Armando Alexandre
Wave energy converters (WEC) have being subject of a fast development during the last years. It is a reasonable assumption that the application of these technologies on its mature state is going to happen relatively soon, and
that it will occur on arrays of devices. Therefore large areas on nearshore regions are going to be used for WEC arrays deployments, and modifications to existent coastal processes expected. This project concerns the elaboration of an accurate method to predict those changes. The work presented here
compromises the study of the modifications caused by the WECs on the near-wavefield departing from potential theory. Linearity and all potential flow assumptions are considered and it is used an optimal control solution for the array. The up- and down-wave resultant spectra are then analysed and the
respective propagation done on simple profile beaches. Transformations on propagation parameters such as wave group velocity are going to be investigated. From these changes analysis, possible integration of the WEC induced wave transformation on a spectral wave energy propagation model is going to be studied.
WEC arrays for electricity production and coastal protection
NOTES
Brian Flannery
Wave energy is a nascent industry and consequently the level of detail required of the resource is only now being appreciated. Wave Energy Converters (WECs) are in general resonant devices meaning they operate most efficiently over a
narrow band of wave periods. Accordingly in an effort to understand or predict device performance it is becoming commonplace to represent the ocean sea state as a frequency mix (or sea spectrum), rather than merely using the summary wave statistics. A recent project carried out at the Hydraulics and
Maritime Research Centre (HMRC) examining means of defining spectral shape revealed a greater variation between chronologically consecutive spectra than that which might be expected initially. A standard technique in obtaining sea spectra is to implement the computational method known as the Fast Fourier
Transform (FFT) on the time series data of the sea in question. The paper will investigate just how accurately a spectrum acquired via the FFT technique can represent the sea conditions at a spectral harmonic level. Both real sea data as well as quasi-irregular tank data will be used as the basis of the research Of particular interest is the scenario where the significant wave height (Hs) and
mean zero crossing period (TZ) remain the same for a substantial period of time. The variation in spectral shape can be observed by breaking down the longer time series sample into smaller subsections and executing a FFT on these sections. The electrical power produced by a particular wave energy
device (which is the ultimate interest of wave energy engineering) can then be determined by the convolution of the devices power characteristic curve with the sea spectrum. The difference in (estimated) power production between the method of using the average spectral characteristics (of the entire time series
data) and the system of breaking down the interval into subsections will give insight into the suitability of the current widely used method of using averaged sea state parameters Hs \& Tz to determine the power produced by a wave energy converter (WEC).
A study on the suitability of using FFT acquired sea spectra to represent sea conditions
Bruce Johnson
Stakeholder Engagement and Public Participation (SEPP) Balancing Environmental Issues and Renewable Energy Deployment in the Marine Environment. Recent polls suggest that public confidence in the science of
climate change has fallen since December 2009 (IPPC, UEA, Copenhagen). This does not bode well for the development of renewable energy alternatives, primarily because the developed world has forged a strong linkage between the development of renewable energy and required reductions in CO2
emissions. Are these now inextricably linked? Will re-engagement of the public require increased levels of stakeholder engagement and public participation (SEEP), to create a positive environment for the deployment of renewable energy or should the government pursue a more traditional planning model
based on the issues of national security to ensure national energy security. In order to justify the requirement for increased SEEP it is important that the value of this type of engagement should be validated by both practitioners and respondents. To date there is little work to justify the posturing of practitioners with regard to outcomes of their work. This research project aims to address
this issue by using action research' to connect with stakeholders, the public and policymakers to assess the SEEP model.
Stakeholder Engagement and Public Participation (SEPP) Balancing Environmental Issues and Renewable Energy Deployment in the Marine Environment
NOTES
Cat Killeen
Development and Validation of Computational Water Entry and Exit Models for a Cylinder in 2D
In this work, computational models are developed to investigate water entry and exit of a horizontal cylinder in 2D, with the intention of developing a fluid-structure interaction model which will be used to predict the behaviour of an
array of point-absorber type wave energy converter devices. Numerical analysis is carried out using ANSYS CFX v.12. Multiphase models incorporating water, air and solid components are used. The water entry model consists of a 2-D, 62.5 mm radius cylinder section moving at constant velocity from directly
above the free-surface into initially calm water of 3 m depth. The water exit model is based around the same 2-D cylinder section submerged to a depth of four radii below the free-surface in the fluid model. For the purpose of validation, both models are compared to numerical and experimental work
carried out by Zhu et al.[1], in terms of slamming coefficient and displacement of the cylinder with time. An investigation into the time step length for the simulations showed that a time step of 0.001 s is appropriate, as it gives solution convergence with good resolution. A mesh dependence study revealed that a high density mesh achieves good correspondence with the
results of [1]. Xinying Zhu, et al., Water Entry and Exit of a Horizontal Circular Cylinder. J. of Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Eng., 2007. 129(4): p. 253-264.
NOTES
Christopher Bassett
Characterizing Underwater Ambient Noise at a Proposed Tidal Energy Site
One of the potential environmental impacts of tidal energy development in Puget Sound, United States being addressed by research at the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center (NNMREC) is the acoustic impact on
the underwater environment. Characterizing the acoustic environment is critical to understanding potential avoidance behaviour in marine mammals known to occur at this site – including endangered Southern Resident Killer Whales. A year-long study of ambient underwater noise at the site of a
proposed tidal energy project identifies physical, biological and anthropogenic sources. A recording hydrophone acquires data at 80 kHz with a 1% duty cycle. Permanent noise levels are 98 dB re 1 μPa. Daytime ambient noise levels exceed night time levels by 3 dB re 1 μPa due to regular ferry traffic.
Ferry and shipping traffic is the greatest source of underwater noise at the site. Collocated current profiles, weather data, and ship tracking are used to quantify the impact of common noise sources. An inverse model to predict to sound pressure levels based on natural conditions and anthropogenic sources is introduced and sound propagation is estimated from sources of opportunity
using fixed-monitoring hydrophone data and ship tracks logged by an Automatic Information System (AIS) receiver.
NOTES
Damien Scullion
Previous studies have shown that many species of kelp exhibit considerable plasticity in morphological and biomechanical properties in contrasting energy environments. One such species, Laminaria digitata, is the dominant kelp of the
upper sublittoral zone on rocky shores around the UK and as such, is among those coastal organisms most affected by wave activity. A number of locations have been selected around the Narrows in Strangford Lough, Northern Ireland, and the Irish Sea, to exhibit a variety of wave and current characteristics.
Morphological measurements were made on individuals of L. digitata, collected on a seasonal basis, from each site. The frond-like laminae are found to possess more digitate blades and are thicker in wave exposed areas, lamina length is found to decrease due to wave induced apical erosion. Samples from a site
selected to exhibit high current velocities, with little or no wave activity, were found to have the longest average stipe length. This data will further be correlated to detailed measurements of wave activity and current velocities taken using an acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) as well as other known wave-exposure indicator species being sampled to allow use of L. digitata as an
accurate indicator of wave exposure.
Relating the Morphology of the kelp Laminaria igitata to incident wave exposure and current velocity
NOTES
Darragh Clabby
This project will involve the analysis of data from Aquamarine Power Limited's full scale Oyster 1 prototype at the European Marine Energy Centre, Orkney. This data will be compared to data obtained from physical scale model tests
carried out in the QUB wave tank in order to assess how well the existing physical modelling techniques predict prototype behaviour and to suggest methods of improving physical modelling techniques for the design of future devices. ADCP data recorded at EMEC will be analysed in order to assess the
prototype wave climate. This analysis will be used to assess the sea states currently implemented at model scale in the QUB wave tank in terms of their ability to model the prototype wave climate. The PTO will be simulated at model scale using a motor controlled damping system. Data from the
prototype will be used to determine the damping regime applied to the model. General scaling effects will be investigated by comparison of similar models at different scales in the QUB wave tank. Specific cases will be investigated by comparison of prototype data to a suitable model subjected to similar wave climate and PTO conditions.
Model-Prototype Correlation of an Oscillating Wave Surge Converter
NOTES
David Ben Haim
Member of Wavetrain2 project, my research focuses essentially on the grid integration of ocean energy, and the electrical design of offshore farms: cluster layouts, transmission alternatives to shore etc. In Tecnalia I also got involved in
a generators test bank implementation to evaluate power electronics solutions to achieve grid integration requirements (CORES project). My academic background was initially oriented towards hydrodynamics, reason why I also have the occasion to participate in research projects concerning umbilical
cables design and their compatibility to moorings configuration, mainly using Orcaflex© software. Recently, I started working with a electrical networks analysis software: DigSilent. The objective is to model and simulate the behaviour of different wave energy farm configurations. Examples of case
studies are the BIMEP (Biscay Marine Energy Platform) and the Mutriku Breakwater.
Grid Integration of Marine Renewable Energy - Wave and Tidal Energy Offshore Farms Design
NOTES
David Carr
The Oscillating Water Column (OWC) wave energy device is considered to be one of the most common concepts in use for wave energy capture. However it
has yet to be demonstrated that energy can be extracted from ocean waves at an economic rate using OWC technology. This is predominantly due to the initial capital cost of the structure. Previous research has established that the approach of using a subterranean chamber for an OWC held considerable
promise for the shoreline capture of ocean wave energy. This involves the implementation of underground space technology to construct the chamber within an ocean facing cliff. This form of construction could potentially prove more economically viable than conventional methods of OWC manufacture.
Previous research has also validated the design concepts of constructing an OWC within naturally occurring rock and proved that such a technique could produce acceptable hydrodynamic and pneumatic conversion efficiencies. This study aims to develop a wave to wire' model that can predict yearly-averaged power conversion efficiencies for a selection of sites on the west coast of
Ireland. This is facilitated through numerical modelling with the Boundary Element Method (BEM) code WAMIT.
An Assessment of the Feasibility and Energy Potential of Subterranean Oscillating Water Column (OWC) Wave Energy Converters in Ireland
NOTES
Davide Magagna
My research focuses on the direct conversion of wave energy for desalination purposes. A Wave Energy Converter (WEC) aimed at water delivery has been developed. The device is based on the more common Oscillating Water Column
(OWC) technology but exploits the resonant conditions obtained during the oscillatory motion of the water contained in the chamber to deliver it to a fixed height. Testing of the Oscillating Water Column Wave Pump (OWCP) is carried through physical and mathematical modelling of the devices. The device is
designed to operate in an array of pumps tuned to adapt to various wave conditions. The aim of this work is to analyse the absorption efficiency of the device, provide an insight on the hydrodynamic efficiency of OWC-type device when no air-turbine is fitted and to determine an ideal layout for an array of
OWCPS. Initial results of single component testing found that amplification of 5 times the incoming wave height were achieved within each OWCP. If different configurations of the OWCPs are employed, resonance can be assured for wide spectra of wave conditions with T ranging from 5 to 10s.Current work is now focussed on determining the performance of OWCPs installed in an
array.
Physical Investigation into an array of three OWCPs
NOTES
Elizabeth Christie
Long term morphological impacts of offshore wind farms
Scour around structures in coastal and estuarine environment is fundamentally important for engineers design. The recent increased development of wind farms for renewable energy means that research in this area is urgently
needed. The majority of research concentrates on the near field scour effects around the structures to include scour holes and tail scour. The influence from the vortex downstream of the structure due to waves and currents remains unclear, particularly in cases where adjacent channels or sandbanks movement
is potentially being effected. The long term morphological impacts of offshore wind farms will be determined through CFD modelling of localised scour effects around monopiles and gravity based piles. The near field model will then be parameterised and incorporated into a larger coastal TELEMAC model,
hydrodynamic wind farm site field measurements will be used to validate the model.
NOTES
Emma Sheehan
The imperative to derive energy from renewable sources has never been more urgent. Whilst the marine environment offers a huge renewable energy resource, which would potentially ameliorate future greenhouse gas emissions,
it is vital to consider the impact of Marine Renewable Energy Installations (MREI) on marine biodiversity. Only with a full knowledge of the effects of MREIs can holistic management of ecosystems be effectively achieved. Concerns exist that MREIs will negatively impact marine fauna and habitats
through a multitude of factors e.g. collision, noise, electromagnetic fields and the physical disturbance from cables and moorings. We also anticipate positive impacts for ecosystems as MREIs, in many cases, result in defacto-marine protected areas mimicking artificial reefs and fish aggregation devices, which
have been successful in enhancing biodiversity and ecosystem health. We present novel methodologies to monitor marine biodiversity in benthic habitats at Wave Hub - a new wave energy development (8 km2) to be constructed between 2010 and 2012, south west UK. It is hoped that information from our efforts at Wave Hub will in the future aid the
development of management approaches to minimise negative impacts, promote biodiversity while ensuring the delivery of energy from renewable sources in the marine environment.
Assessing the environmental effects of marine renewable energy development the Wave Hub example
NOTES
Eoghan Maguire
My research is primarily concerned with Numerical Wave Tanks and their implementation in Computational Fluid Dynamics. In order to implement a wavemaker in CFD it has been necessary to gain greater theoretical
understanding of the wave making process and control of absorbing wave makers. This has resulted in some interesting findings regards both the shape of the wavemaker and the control strategy to actualise the absorption of incoming waves. Three different shaped wavemakers were considered, a
piston, a bottom hinged flap and a hyperbolic sine paddle. The absorption of each shape was then analysed using both real and reactive type controls. All three displayed very unique responses under the different types of control. This presentation will discuss the geometric design considerations involved in
both wavemakers and wave absorbers (in surge) and the control methodologies that can be implemented to achieve maximum absorption using real and reactive control in mixed seas.
Numerical modelling of wave absorbers
NOTES
Eric Stoutenburg
A significant design and cost consideration of marine renewable energy plants is the subsea transmission link from the farm to the shore substation. A mixed integer linear program is proposed that solves for the optimal capacity and
number of transmission lines for marine energy farms with various generation mixes of offshore wind and wave power. The model assumes DC power flow. The data for the optimization are 12 locations offshore of California with hourly average wind and wave power output. Two electricity pricing cases are tested.
First, the transmission link is optimized for a farm selling electricity at a fixed price, or feed-in tariff. Second, the transmission link is optimized for a farm selling power at the hour ahead market price, which reflects the time of day and seasonal value of electricity generation. Preliminary results indicate 100%
offshore wind farms require higher capacity links than wave farms. This reflects the power extraction characteristics of wind turbines and wave energy converters.
Optimizing Offshore Transmission Links for Marine Renewable Energy Farms
NOTES
Florent Guinot
State of the art on wave and tidal energy and technology assessment
“There is a very large amount of different concepts to harness tidal and wave energy but how much are still in the course today? How far are they in their development? What happened recently and what will happen soon in the
ocean energy field?”A survey on the different technologies has just been performed trying to be as complete as possible. This presentation will focus on the state of the art on wave and tidal energy, presenting the last milestones, the new technology arriving in the competition, the achievements expected in
the following years... “This seems nice but I just want to know which one is the best technology?”Sadly this question is very hard to answer. It is probable that in the future not a single technology will prevail, but more likely several different ones each with particular features fitting for specific conditions. Thus
each device has been analysed to emphasize its advantages, drawbacks, limitations.... And a flexible methodology has been developed to rate and compare them using several criteria with different weights factor.
NOTES
Francesco Fusco
Real-time control of Wave Energy Converters (WECs) requires knowledge of future incident wave elevation in order to approach optimal efficiency of wave energy extraction. An approach where the wave elevation is treated as a
univariate time series and predicted only from its past history is presented. A comparison of a range of forecasting methodologies on real wave observations shows how the linear autoregressive (AR) model implicitly model the cyclical behaviour of waves and can offer very accurate predictions of swell waves for
up to 2 wave periods into the future. In order to quantify the actual prediction requirements, different possible time-domain control approaches are evaluated for a linear oscillating system in one degree of freedom. Their properties in terms of prediction requirements, robustness to forecasting
errors and performance achievable by the forecasting algorithms are evaluated and compared through numerical simulations based on real ocean wave elevation measurements. Note that, according to the adopted control strategy, the actual physical quantity that is required to predict may change (oscillation velocity, excitation force, wave elevation). In any case it will be an effect of the
incident wave, filtered by the dynamic of the system, and the proposed wave forecasting algorithms are still valid.
Wave forecasting and real-time robust control of wave energy
NOTES
Gireesh Kumar V Ramachandran
The project deals with development of a mathematical model for prediction of aero-hydro-servo-elastic loading on floating offshore wind turbines. Based on literature review and for different selected environmental conditions, we
concentrate on a Tension Leg Platform (TLP) configuration. Initially, a simplified model for the structure and wave loading procedure is being developed. Results from this model for the TLP configuration is benchmarked against those reported in the literature. Further, a wave load procedure which is taking into
account the inertia and drag forces from the waves acting on the floater and the mooring system is being developed. Eventually, the wave load procedure will be coupled to a full, well-proven, aerodynamic code, which predicts the wind-generated loads on the wind turbine components in the time domain. An
effective stochastic procedure, the First Order Reliability Method (FORM), will be applied to derive the extreme values and fatigue estimates for the total system. The feasibility of different configurations will thereby be evaluated.
Floating Offshore Wind Turbines - 3D Hydrodynamics Coupled to an Advanced Aero-Elastic Code
NOTES
Izan le Crom
Portuguese Grid Connected OWC Power Plant: Monitoring Report: Ten years ago the European OWC pilot plant was built on the island of Pico in the Azores. After being unproductive for several years the Pico plant was reactivated in
2005 and has operated for five years connected to the local grid both as a power generator and as a pilot plant for testing instrumentation, validating numerical models or control systems. Because both the structure and the turbo-generator unit survived extreme storm conditions with non-critical damage
and thanks to the development of a rigorous maintenance program, the technical plant availability is now very high. The power output of the plant has always been limited in order to guarantee maximum security of the components, however the reliability achieved to date permits a new phase of
systematic testing, yielding an increased level of confidence in the installation. This study aims at presenting some RTD activities since the 2005 recovery most of which are still in progress. The recent testing program (2007-2009), plant maintenance and achieved functional improvements will be reviewed. An updated evaluation of the plant performance will also be presented, and the
comprehensive monitoring plan developed for full plant functionality will be discussed.
Monitoring of the Pico OWC Plant
NOTES
João Baltazar
Unsteady Hydrodynamic Analysis of a Horizontal Axis Marine Current Turbine with an Integral Boundary Element Method
There has been a growing interest in marine current energy conversion systems. One of the most promising systems is based on the use of horizontal axis marine current turbines. The ability to predict the hydrodynamic
performance of a marine current turbine in non-uniform inflow conditions is essential for the design and analysis of such systems. For the fully unsteady analysis of the flow on a marine current turbine with cavitation, a potential flow model may be adequate and cost-effective for use in the design of such
systems. The potential flow analysis may be carried out with an Integral Boundary Element Method (IBEM). The IBEM has been applied to a horizontal axis marine current turbine in steady flow and in unsteady flow conditions, and compared to experimental data available in the literature. In this work, we
extend our method to include wake alignment. The analysis is carried out for straight and yawed inflow conditions for a turbine with controllable pitch for two different pitch settings in a wide range of tip-speed-ratios. A vortex wake alignment model is considered for the turbine wake. The numerical results including viscous corrections on the section blade forces are compared with
experimental performance data.
NOTES
Julien Cretel
Model predictive control applied to a wave energy point absorber
Among the different types of wave energy converters, point absorbers (i.e. small
oscillators excited by waves) are the object of great expectations. If one or several
of those devices are to succeed commercially, effective control strategies must be
devised to improve performance. The two control approaches for point absorbers
which are most studied in the literature, however, namely reactive control and
latching, suffer from major limitations. My poster presents a time-domain control
method based on Model Predictive Control (MPC), which can be applied to a wide
range of point absorbers. This MPC-based approach provides a flexible and powerful
framework for controlling wave energy point absorbers. The control method is
applied to a classic point absorber example: a semi-immersed, heaving, vertical
cylinder in deep water; the point absorber is subject to either sinusoidal or irregular
excitation and may either be free or subject to amplitude constraints. Preliminary
results from numerical simulations are presented and discussed.
NOTES
Justin Hovland
I am interested in the survival of wave energy converters (WECs). In particular I have been trying to determine specifically how severe breaking waves during sea-storms may be and how often they will occur. Over the past year I have
gathered information on wave breaking, wave instabilities, and wave statistics. So far, it is not clear how often we can expect a given WEC to experience breaking waves of a given severity. I have been working on how to address this. Recently, I have been working with time-series wave elevation data
available from the Coastal Data Information Program (CDIP) in order to obtain the actual joint distribution of wave heights and periods during specific storm events. Using geometric breaking criteria, I have defined a theoretical wave breaking severity, and have found how it is distributed during a storm event. In
the near future, I hope to correlate this theoretical breaking severity with statistical observations of breaking waves. This would allow us to predict the slamming loads to expect on a WEC from breaking waves during storms at a particular location. I am also interested in how WECs may be designed to handle or avoid such hazards.
Characterizing Dangerous Waves for WEC Survivability
NOTES
Kate Freeman
The aim is to develop an intelligent adaptive controller for a wave energy converter based on the oscillating water column principle. The purpose of intelligent adaptive control is to obtain the optimum amplitude and phase of
the internal water column elevation in order to maximize the power conversion for a cost effective and efficient solution. The project will focus initially on a twin OWC design as the first stage in control for power maximization over a full OWC array, testing both a physical model under laboratory conditions and a
mathematical model in a range of seas. Various control methods will be tested in state space in order to take into account both varying seas and the nonlinearities of the OWC system.
Intelligent control of a multiple oscillating water column wave energy conversion device
NOTES
Kristen Thyng
In investigating the potential of a system for in-stream tidal energy, there are many areas of research to consider. There may include current speeds, environmental impact, turbulent intensity, shear forces, turbine array placement, and sediment transport and oxygen level effects. This research, as part of the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center (NNMREC) partner at the University of Washington studying tidal energy, seeks to characterize the physical flow field in Admiralty Inlet, an area of interest for a commercial-scale turbine array in the Puget Sound, WA.This characterization may involve mapping areas of high currents with greater resolution than previously accomplished and searching out areas of low shear forces and turbulent processes that may potentially disrupt turbine operation or shorten turbine lifespan. We are particularly interested in the potential presence and effect of flow features such as hydraulic jumps and internal waves on turbine operation. This work will be accomplished using the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) to numerically model the area of interest as a nested subdomain in a larger, operational regional model of the northern Pacific Ocean and Puget Sound. Preliminary work has involved idealized 2D modeling over an obstacle in a stratified fluid exploring possible flow features for insight into a future, realistic model.
Investigating Pertinent Flow Features in an In-Stream Tidal Energy Site
NOTES
Lander Victor
Due to increased computing capacity of present computers, numerical simulations have become a useful tool, complementing or replacing experimental tests when studying interaction of coastal structures with waves. A numerical wave flume is being developed at Ghent University (Belgium) using FLOW-3D to study wave-structure interactions. A combination of mass source generation and wave absorption (built in through customization) has been used to generate regular, irregular, linear and non-linear waves, validated in a flume without structures. In a next step, “numerical coastal structures” have been positioned inside the flume. The work to be presented focuses on the phenomenon of wave overtopping. As waves approach a sloping structure, they run up this slope and overtop the structure when the crest freeboard of the structure is smaller than the run-up height. Overtopping wave energy converters are designed to maximize the overtopping discharge. Physical model tests have been carried out on a scale model of this type of structures during Spring 2010. Results of regular wave tests with several slope angles, water depths and wave conditions are used to validate the numerical flume. Prelimi-nary comparison between the experimental and numerical results indicates that FLOW-3D is able to give accurate predictions of individual overtopping volumes.
Numerical study of wave overtopping using FLOW-3D
NOTES
Lars Frøyd
The size of commercial wind turbines have increased from approximately 1 MW in 1990 to 5-6 MW in today's largest offshore wind turbines. When moving offshore and to floating turbines, the increased cost of substructures and
installation and maintenance offshore favours larger units. The economic optimal size is not known, but the floating wind farms of tomorrow may consist of turbines with a capacity of 10 MW or more. The present 5-6 MW turbines are in the borderland of what is possible with the present technology. Moving
to larger turbines requires different approaches than merely scaling the turbine components. The largest technological challenges relates to blade design to achieve lightweight blades that are sufficiently strong and with improved dynamic characteristics to reduce fatigue loads. Another important aspect is
nacelle weight, which can be reduced by novel direct-drive topologies and generator technology. To facilitate research on large offshore wind turbines, a reference wind turbine will be defined with a capacity of 10 MW. All turbine specifications and details will be published and be freely available for other researchers and institutions. The idea is not to create an optimal design, but to
create a common reference case for further research.
Definition of a floating 10 MW reference wind turbine
NOTES
Laura Finlay
Tidal energy barrages are an established but controversial option for harnessing the energy held within the rise and fall of the tide. Despite public and political objections, a tidal barrage has long been proposed for the Severn
Estuary, UK (see attached figure). In order to ascertain the impact such a structure may potentially have on tidal resonance in the region a simple two-dimensional model has been used to simulate tidal flows through a series of estuary scenarios with a variety of domain geometries, boundary and
bathymetric conditions. This model has realistically modelled the hydrodynamics of the Severn Estuary and demonstrated the variations in energy dissipation and flow throughout the system. Preliminary conclusions illustrate that the inclusion of a solid barrier or barrage into the Severn Estuary
will act to reduce tidal resonance.
Numerical modelling of the response of tidal resonance to the presence of a tidal energy barrage
NOTES
Louise O'Boyle
It is in the nature of wave energy converters to extract large amounts of energy from incident waves and, if wave energy is to contribute significantly to power production in the future, large wave farms extending for several kilometres
along the coastline will be required. This scale of energy extraction will increase the potential for significant changes in coastal processes. To date, the effect of wave farms on our coasts has been modelled numerically using partially transmitting obstacles with certain transmission coefficients which are applied
across the whole spectrum of incident waves. Although this method gives a good first estimation of the impact of energy extraction, the effects of device tuning and interaction with incident waves are neglected. The project aims to investigate more closely the effect of wave energy extraction on the local wave
climate by determination of reflected, transmitted and radiated waves as well as changes in sediment transport. The work involves a combination of experimental tank testing and numerical modelling using a software package known as MIKE. Testing will be carried out in a new 15m x17m, 3D shallow water wave basin located in Portaferry. Set-up and calibration of this facility is
a key element of the research project.
Evaluating the impact of wave farms on coastal processes
NOTES
Mairéad Atcheson
An experimental survey in the wake of a horizontal axis turbine
Similar to wind turbines, it is planned that tidal stream energy devices will be deployed in arrays or ‘tidal farms’. However, before industry can progress to this stage, more information is required on the optimum spacing between tidal turbines. This paper contributes to the required knowledge by investigating the characteristics of the wake produced by a horizontal axis tidal turbine.
Details of a 10th scale towing test conducted in a lake, devised to measure the wake generated by a horizontal axis tidal turbine, are presented. As a simplification of the marine environment, the lake provides the steady, uniform flow conditions required to quantify and understand the wake produced by the tidal device. A 16m long x 6m wide twin-hull catamaran was constructed for the test programme. This dou-bled as a towing rig and instrument measurement platform, providing a fixed frame of reference for measurements in the wake of the turbine. Velocity mapping was conducted using acoustic doppler velocimeters (ADV) and acoustic doppler current profilers (ADCP).
It is recognised that both the turbine support structure and rotor contribute to the wake generated. Therefore, measurements were made with both the rotor attached and removed to quantify the effects of the support structure on the wake.
NOTES
Majid Bhinder
This research concentrates on the development of the next-generation 3D numerical model to be validated on a floating point absorber wave energy converter. The study is devoted to the development of an original solution
scheme for the time accurate simulation of wave-structure interactions using a combined potential and RANSE approach. Major objective of this research is to develop following three central features of numerical modeling of floating wave energy devices and to incorporate these new methods in existing code
ICARE: 1. the capability to simulate moorings, 2. the capability to simulate irregular incoming waves in reasonable CPU time, 3. the capability to simulate fully 6 DOF free floating rigid body. Numerical modelling of mooring cables is taken as the first step of this project. Mooring cables have a significant impact
on the performance of the wave energy converter and hence needs significant contributions from mathematical modelling team. A better numerical approach can provide a deeper insight into various available mooring options, leading to an optimum solution for better output power from the WEC in question. After the validation of the initial model the code is intended to be incorporated into
the in-house research code; ICARE. The final validation will be conducted on the WEC. Results from moored and unmoored device would be compared so that to spot the impact of mooring lines on the performance of the device and ways to achieve the best possible optimum configuration would be outlined.
Non-linear 3D numerical hydrodynamic modelling of floating point absorbers
Maria Cambell
WaveHub Site Ecosystem Monitoring
In order to reduce adverse effects of human activities on marine ecosystems, marine management is shifting towards an integrated multi-sector spatial planning approach. This requires large scale, high-resolution data on fishing effort. We used Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) data to map gear-specific fishing effort in and around the western English Channel. The renewable sector, one of the new emerging stakeholder groups, has gained permission to build a wave testing array station, Wave Hub and construction begins this year. The Wave Hub will form an 8 km2 de facto Marine Protected Area. A candidate Special Area of Conservation, Haig Fras is in consultation also, situated to the west of Wave Hub. Our maps highlight both the potential effects of fisheries closures around Wave Hub and Haig Fras on the distribution of an international fishing fleet of large (>15 m length) vessels and spatial differences in the intensity of fishing by different gear types. In our case study, if proposed closures prevent use of all fishing gear then static gear users are likely to be the most affected due to the lower availability of their preferred fishing grounds and the high degree of patchiness of their effort. Active mobile gears show the highest effort intensity and widest distribution in the study area, hence impacts on benthic habitats and discarding are likely to have the most significant ecosystem effects in this area.
NOTES
Martyn Hann
Fabriconda - A viable fabric based wave energy converter?
The Fabriconda wave energy converter is an attenuating device constructed primarily from fabric. Small fabric tubes are pressurised with salt water and joined together to form a larger tube, also pressurised. Wave’s travelling over
the top of the device induce propagating pressure bulges within these tubes. If the speed of bulge propagation can be matched to wave speed then the bulge gets larger and larger, extracting energy from the waves. This research project is to determine whether the Fabriconda is a viable wave energy converter. The
eventual aim is to calculate predictions of capture width of a full scale Fabriconda and to use this to compare with other wave energy devices. To reach this aim, bulge speed within the tubes must first be determined. This is dependent on both pressure in the individual tubes and in the larger one they
form, allowing the device to be tuned to different wave conditions. The current approach to this research has been to use a piston arrangement to artificially create pressure bulges within a 7m long model Fabriconda and record the speed of propagation. A finite difference model is being developed to reflect this experiment. Further tests are planned to examine the behaviour of the
tube in waves.
NOTES
Matthieu Guérinel
Numerical analysis of wave energy converters takes an important part in the design of such devices. In order to get accurate results, there is a need of developing new models based on non linear theory. The aim of this work is to
develop one of those models, based on an already existing one. It is developed in the time domain and focuses on the hydrostatic and excitation forces that apply on a body. In a first step, a single body having a basic shape (cone-like) is considered, for only one degree of freedom (heave), in order to get its
instantaneous position in time, and thus its instantaneous wet and water plane surfaces, respectively. This allows calculating and using the instantaneous hydrostatic force instead of considering a constant one. After validation, the problem has to be extended to all six degrees of freedom of the body, for the
hydrostatic forces as well as for the excitation forces.Once the problem is solved for a cone-like body, the work will focus on solving the problem for an Oscillating Water Column device, taking into account the mooring and PTO effects.
Numerical Modelling of Wave Energy Converters - OWC type
NOTES
Miguel Vicente
The general goal of this work is to study a wave energy converter, which is basically compound of a floating body and an internal oscilating water column. Here it is considered only the vertical motion for either the floating body and
the water column, and it is from their relative displacement that the energy is converted. The hydrodynamic coefficients and the excitation forces are computed in terms of frequency using the 3D radiation/diffraction panel code Wamit. This work aims the power absortion optimization, considering both
geometric parameters and power take-off characteristics. A stochastic approach is considered to calculate some variables, such as the power extracted and displacement amplitudes, taking into account a spectral model, in which a sea state is defined with a peak period and a significant height.
Floating Oscillating Water Column Study - a stochastic approach
NOTES
Nikola Gargov
Motion of sea waves is quite predictable but not controllable event. Linear generator is driven directly form sea waves without any interconnection systems, which is its biggest advantage. Therefore its output is based on only on the wave motion pattern. Due to its nature wave motion cause very high torque and low speed motion. Because of his mechanical construction the linear generator gives current output with varying frequency. The frequency is varying from zero to approximately 10 Hz in interval of several seconds. This output does not satisfy the distribution grid requirements. In order to connect a generator to any AC grid, the frequency has to be set certain value (50/60Hz). Also generator`s voltage has to be equal to grid`s nominal voltage. To achieve these aims linear generator has to be connected via power-electronics circuit system. This circuit will transform linear generator`s output in order to make it suitable for grid integration.
Grid integration of wave energy converters using linear generators
NOTES
Pascal Galloway
The understanding of wave-current interaction is of increasing interest in the field of coastal and offshore engineering. An area where wave-current interaction is likely to be an important factor is in the development of Marine
Current Energy Converters (MCECs). Little has been done to investigate the behaviour of MCECs in unsteady flow caused by wave motion. Experiments were conducted in a towing tank with wave-making capabilities. Results show that even for operation in a towing tank where the vertical velocity profile is
uniform and there is minimal turbulence, the effects of wave motion and rotor yaw can lead to significant peak rotor thrust loading and variation in peak power output. The latter can be mitigated somewhat using power electronics but unsteady thrust loading of blades raises the issue of fatigue damage and
device maintenance. The work presented in this paper will eventually assist in the structural design of MCEC rotor blades, quantify the loading effects caused by waves and maximise rotor diameter to achieve a robust, high energy yield device.
Tidal Stream Turbines
NOTES
Penny Jeffcoate
Tidal barrages are being seriously considered for electricity generation, because they are a renewable and reliable energy source, which do not emit any toxic waste. Schemes for the UK have been investigated for decades,
however there appears to have been very little modelling or experimentation to analyse the flow through the barrages. Flow modelling has previously been used for large scale applications, however the local flow through the turbines is very simplistic in these models. The real flow is very complex, with strong
curvature upstream of the barrage and turbulent wakes downstream. Smaller scale modelling of the flow immediately upstream, through and immediately downstream of the barrage has not yet been investigated and compared with experimentation. This project assesses different modelling for more accurate
representation of the flow around a tidal barrage, using Stansby codes for depth-averaged modelling and Star-CD for 3D modelling. The results from these models will be compared with experimentation. Currently Star-CD is being used to model the flow through the barrage, with porous cells to represent the restriction to the flow caused by the turbine. The results show
that the flow accelerates as it enters the turbine pipe and decelerates and recirculates downstream of the pipe.
Modelling the flow upstream, through and downstream of a tidal barrage
NOTES
Peter Johnson
Hydrodynamics of a double-pass translating lift device for extracting energy from tidal currents
The potential of tidal current energy is widely recognised as being on the order of giga-watts in the UK alone. Large economies of scale are necessary to meet this potential in a cost effective way. The present technology for tidal current
turbines is based on the axial-flow propeller concept used in the wind industry. The capacity of a single tidal current device is inherently limited: the diameter cannot exceed the water depth. Typical sites for tidal current energy are much wider than the water depth and this results in the need for thousands of tidal
turbines to achieve giga-watts of installed capacity. This research considers an alternative device that can be much wider than its height. Such a device can therefore achieve larger installation capacities than current technology, and this potentially unlocks new economies of scale. Current research is on the
hydrodynamics of a double-pass translating lift device - known as a 'Moonraker' device. This is a variant of the cross-flow, Darrieus concept. To analyse the hydrodynamics a combination of momentum model, vortex modelling, and experimental measurements is being pursued. A model scale device has been constructed and will be tested in the UCL recirculating flume in
the coming weeks.
NOTES
Philipp Thies
The reliability assessment of marine energy converters (MECs) is a challenging task due to an omnipresent lack of applicable failure rate data, leading to rather unfavourable high uncertainties. Common issues are the application of
failure rate data from other marine industries or the implementation of proven technologies in the design of MECs. The simple introduction of these existing data or proven technologies into the design of MECs has often cost implication and could lead to component and system reliability issues. Dedicated reliability
testing of components under operational conditions, using e.g. accelerated reliability testing, does not seem widely adopted in the marine renewable industry, yet. However, component reliability testing is commonly used in other industries to evaluate field failure rates more accurately and reveal
possible failure modes/design weaknesses. Loads that are experienced in the field through prototype testing can be used to accurately replicate load conditions for accelerated testing. Such test facilities are being developed at the PRIMaRE research group at the University of Exeter. The appeal of such testing is not only to obtain necessary data for marine energy applications but
to gain valuable insight into the physics of failure.
Reliability of marine energy converters
NOTES
Raul Urbina
A number of numerical methods have been developed to predict the performance and aerodynamic loads of the Darrieus turbine. The validated models reasonably predict the performance at low solidities, but lose accuracy
at higher solidity ratios. High solidity turbines are of interest since they operate at lower tip speed ratios and allow for lower pressure decrements along the blade. These characteristics have the potential to reduce the environmental impact on marine fauna. This work presents an analysis of the phenomena that
occurs at higher solidities in order for a corrected model to be implemented. A set of experiments were conducted on a series of two and four blade configurations which were tow tested in order to validate a modified analytical vortex model. Results will be shown for a numerical model of high solidity
Darrieus type cross flow turbines which have been experimentally validated. High solidity rotors (1 < Nc/R < 2) are tested and modeled for conditions of blade dynamic stall and to evaluate the effects of flow curvature. These two effects are shown to be significant modeling parameters which have limited
the accuracy of prior models in this solidity range.
The Characterization and Design of High Solidity Cross-Flow Tidal Turbines
NOTES
Richard Ferrier
Free surface modelling with the level set method and Cartesian cut cells
It is important to be able to model free surface flows using computational fluid dynamics in order to assess, for instance, the dynamic response and survivability of wave energy converters. However, commercial codes
employing the popular volume-of-fluid model have shown shortcomings both in propagating wave trains and reproducing breaking waves. A flow solver recently developed at Hokkaido University, Japan has achieved promising results by combining the level set method and the constrained interpolation
profile method (CIP) on a simple Cartesian domain. The aim of the present work is to extend the practical use of this solver by implementing Cartesian cut cells as a means of introducing arbitrary solid boundaries. The cut cell method particularly lends itself to moving boundaries since the time-consuming
process of boundary-fitted grid generation is eliminated. An immediate objective is the integration of CIP with cut cells in an incompressible flow solver. The literature strongly suggests that a combined staggered/collocated grid system that avoids cell-to-cell pressure oscillations is compatible with both methods. At the time of writing an incompressible flow solver with the same
staggered/collocated grid system has been developed.
NOTES
Sam Euridge
The provision of accurate wave climate predictions for the nearshore environment is extremely significant to the marine energy sector. Short term forecasts on a wave-by-wave basis assist the tuning of wave energy converters
to optimise energy capture, and longer forecasts on the time scale of minutes could provide accurate predictions of power level fluctuations, facilitating network management. This study focuses on the latter. Current work includes preliminary assessment of the capability of the nonlinear shallow-water wave
propagation model COULWAVE, which is based on higher order depth-integrated Boussinesq type equations, to simulate wavefield evolution: specifically the dynamics of wave groups and quiescent periods in shoreward propagation. The model is validated using wave tank data and then applied to
real ocean measurements collected from the EMEC wave research site at Billia Croo, off the western coast of Orkney. Initiated using local bathymetry and past observations of sea surface elevation, the ability of the model to accurately simulate the wave climate is assessed using statistical analyses and goodness of fit testing. This investigation forms part of an ongoing study in which the
COULWAVE simulations currently being produced and evaluated will be used to assess the ability of time-domain statistical forecasting techniques to predict the evolution of sea-state characteristics, for resource capacity estimation and quantification of available power.
Wave forecast for short term power prediction
Sam Weller
Converting a highly variable energy source such as wave energy into a reliable and controllable source of electrical power is understandably a great challenge for device developers. Numerical models have been used to indicate what
could happen, but have tended to simplify the complex mechanisms involved to allow predictions of power output, especially if multiple devices are located close to each other. Small-scale experimental testing provides a cost-effective method of simulating idealised and realistic sea-states for verification of such
models and this is primarily what I am involved in. Using the combined wave and current flume at the University of Manchester we are currently testing a wave energy concept called the Manchester Bobber' comprising a number of 1:70 scale devices. The main aim of this study is to test a theory which was first
applied over 3 decades ago to wave energy research: that under certain wave conditions, if multiple devices are located close to each other, more energy can be captured compared to the same number of widely spaced devices.
Experimental Investigations of Wave Energy Array
NOTES
Santiago Ortega Arango
The marine instrumentation in the Caribbean Sea is very scarce and the existing records are not long enough to fully describe the wave climate in the long term. As a consequence, there are great difficulties to properly determine the
power present in the waves at different time scales. This research aims to generate wave series in the Colombian Caribbean and use them to calculate the wave power potential. A small island without access to the Colombian electric grid, Isla Fuerte, serves as a case study. The series have a length of 30
years (1979-2008) in hourly resolution, and they are generated using the SWAN model developed at TU Delft with wind inputs form the NCEP North American Regional Reanalysis NARR. The use of nested computational grids of the SWAN model is proposed for downscaling regional wave propagations to obtain
detailed propagations for the island. When compared to the buoys located in the Colombian Caribbean, the information (Hs,Tp) from the simulated series was very similar to the buoy measurements. This suggests that after the corrections and calibration of the series, the same scope can be used to determine, with reasonable confidence, the wave power potential on other
places in the Caribbean.
Determining wave power in areas with scarce instrumentation. Case study: Isla Fuerte-Colombian Caribbean
NOTES
Sarah Caraher
Determining the minimum required maintenance interval for a bearing is reliant on understanding the expected loads and travel on the bearing: for a WEC this is due to the location of the device and the specific design of the
generator, most importantly the bearing placement and translator stroke. Expected implications from decreases in the electrical machines' air-gap due to translator misalignment or bearing wear over time must also be taken into account. This focuses on the work involved in converting a prototype novel
linear generator, the CGen machine, into a test rig. How linear bearings react when tested under conditions that replicate their operation in a WEC will be tested. To simulate this the generator is vertically aligned, with a stroke of 560mm, it can be run both dry and submerged in water and the attainable
running at speeds are between 0.5 and 2m/s. The bearings can be run loaded to simulate the more conventional double sided iron cored machines and also unloaded, to simulate the more novel air cored generator.(The next stage of this prototype is under development with a 50kW machine funded by the Carbon Trust.) The tests are designed to measure load on the bearings and
translator velocity concurrently, in order to present the results in the form of a pressure, velocity, time (PVT) chart as is the standard in industry. Observations on the surface damage and dimensional changes to the bearings will be taken after testing to gain further understanding of wear and friction during
operation. The concluding section of the research will integrate a reliable bearing within the structure of the direct drive linear generator and provide options for full scale models.
Design and testing of linear bearings for direct drive WEC generators in a wet rig.
Scott Beatty
Optimal Design and Control of Point Absorber WECs
In the past as an engineering consultant, and recently as a senior graduate student at University of Victoria, I have been working on the SyncWave WEC for over five years. My current research has three main areas of activity.
Configuration design, Control (at both small and large time scales), and model testing. First, I am working to contribute a so-called benchmark comparison of the most common point absorber design configurations; Through a series of parametric studies using both frequency domain modeling and time domain
simulation (via ProteusDS, www.dsa-ltd.ca), my goal is to uncover optimal design choices to maximize power capture while maintaining safe operation. The second component of my research is focused on WEC control---to attempt a solution to the problem of real-time optimal control of WECs in realistic
irregular seas using control of power take-off as well as the inertial control capabilities afforded by the SyncWave design. Lastly, I am currently in the conceptual design phase for a fully functional 1:6 scale heaving point absorber model, which adheres to the SyncWave device geometry. Within the planned model test program, I intend to validate the design conclusions made using
numerical analyses, provide insight on the relative importance of point absorber design features, and provide a test bed for experimentation with optimal control techniques.
NOTES
First generation marine current turbines make use of rigid fixations which are almost 40% of the cost of the whole system. A solution to this is the utilization
of tethered configurations for station-keeping which not only solves the economical problems but allows the implementation of this technology in deeper waters. Major concerns referring to the use of tethered devices involve stability of the systems in such harsh environment. The main goal is therefore to
develop a methodology to analyse dynamic response of contra rotating devices. The adopted approach uses an aeroelastic simulation to study the rotordynamics of marine turbines in a turbulent environment linked to a hydrodynamic software in order to introduce the wave effects on power generation. In order to validate and have a better understanding of such
complex system; forgoing in sea tests were carried out at the Sound of Islay with a 0.92 m contra rotating marine turbine (CoRMaT). Additional experiments where carried out with a 0.30 m contra rotating turbine in a tow/wave tank with controllable and repeatable conditions. This work intends to identify the most
effective configuration for a tether device when scaled up to a commercial rotor size.
System Dynamic Response of Second Generation Marine Current Turbines
Stephanie Ordonez-Sanchez
NOTES
Thea Morgan
Previous research has shown that systems engineering can significantly reduce risk during development of complex systems. It is an interdisciplinary approach used to transform a set of stakeholder requirements and constraints into a
system solution. This includes the definition of technical performance measures, system architecture, and supporting life-cycle processes that balance performance, budget and schedule objectives. The principles of systems engineering; holism, property emergence, behaviour, and boundary
definition can in theory be applied to any system. Previous systems research has mainly focused on a few key industries, such as aerospace and defence, and on large organisations. There is need for research into a wider range of sectors and organisation types. It is the focus of my research that systems
engineering be applied in the context of marine energy development in an SME organisation. In the context of this project the research problem can be framed as: Complexity is constraining the development and uptake of marine energy technology at all key system levels.
A systems approach to the development of marine renewable energy technology (in collaboration with IT Power Ltd)
NOTES
Thomas Kinsey
Analysis and testing of a hydrokinetic turbine based on oscillating hydrofoils
A new concept of hydrokinetic turbine using oscillating hydrofoils to extract energy from water currents (tidal or continuous) has been developed and tested. This technology is particularly well suited for river beds and shallow waters near the coasts due to its rectangular extraction plane. Very encouraging hydrodynamic efficiencies are demonstrated through field tests in good agreement with the theoretical predictions obtained in the design phase. Following extensive optimisation based on CFD modeling, an experimental 2 kW prototype has been designed, built and tested. The turbine includes two rectangular oscillating hydrofoils in a tandem spatial configuration. The pitching motion of each hydrofoil is coupled to their cyclic heaving motion through four-links mechanisms which effectively result in a one-degree-of-freedom system driving a rotating shaft connected to a speed-controlled electric generator. In order to facilitate testing at different water flow velocities, the turbine has been mounted on a custom-made pontoon boat and dragged on a lake. Very good flow conditions and repeatability have thus been obtained. Instantaneous extracted power was measured and cycle-averaged for several water flow velocities and hydrofoil oscillation frequencies. Results demonstrate the promising potential of the oscillating hydrofoils technology to efficiently ex-tract power from an incoming water flow.
NOTES
Thomas Roc
Hydrodynamic tool for assessing tidal current turbine arrays
The goal of this project is create a decision-making tool for use in planning marine renewable energy projects utilizing arrays of tidal current turbines (TCT). Such a tool should assist in determining the optimum device layout in terms of maximizing the extractable energy and minimizing the hydrodynamic environmental impacts of the devices. Obviously, for realistic cases, these issues can't be resolved analytically. Accordingly a numerical approach has to be used. The numerical tool will be based on an existing hydrodynamic model which shall be modified to enable the user to account for the effects of TCTs. A major feature of the project shall be the inclusion of diverse methods to account for these effects. Additionally, the development of such a tool within a complete regional modelling framework will permit detailed analysis of the regional effects of the TCT arrays as well as provide accurate assessment of the energy extraction potential for realistic environments. Tool validation activities will include: result comparison with theoretical cases which have an analytical result as well as comparison with physical scale and CFD simulations and eventually field measurements. By recreating theoretical cases, we will confirm the theoretical consistency of the tool and by comparison with real cases we will be able to validate the approach used. Additional tasks to be performed include comparison of the results from the complete tool with the results from simplified tools in order to assess the benefits of the complete tool and the design of a graphical user interface to facilitate use of the tool. Keywords: Array modelling, CFD, tidal current turbines
Tom McCombes
Unsteady wake modelling for arrays of tidal current turbines
NOTES
Traditional computational fluid dynamics based on primitive variable Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes solutions is unable to preserve the wakes of tidal turbines sufficiently downstream to be practical in ascertaining the unsteady loads on devices in arrays. I will present results from a numerical model developed specifically for the calculations required for turbine arrays. The Navier-Stokes equations are solved in a vorticity-velocity form, using an octree based arbitrary-Lagrangian-Eulerian mesh which copes with the strong distortions in the spatial resolution required to track the wake vorticity and a high-resolution finite volume scheme with fairly compressive limiters to limit artificial dissipation. Using an in house code developed over the course of my PhD, the wake can be preserved sufficiently to allow wake-induced effects such as time-resolved blade-vortex-interactions to be examined. I will present some results for small groups of devices in generic array configurations demonstrating the implications of different degrees of device overshadowing at the various ranges likely to be encountered in a practical array setting. Keywords: CFD, turbines, wake, Navier-Stokes, pain, misery, suffering
Vicky Stratigaki
Wave Energy Converters (abbreviated as WECs) will have to be arranged in arrays or farms', using a particular layout in order to extract a considerable amount of wave power. As a result of the interaction between the WECs of a farm (near-field effects), the overall power absorption is affected. Moreover, the wave height behind a large farm of WECs is reduced, possibly influencing neighboring farms or other users in the sea or even the coastline (far-field effects). The development of the numerical modeling of the above mentioned wake effects of a WEC-farm is being studied. A mild-slope wave propagation model, MILDwave, based on the equations of Radder and Dingemans (1985) and developed by Troch (1998) has been recently used in the simulation of basic WEC-farm layouts (Beels et al., 2010a,b).The numerical optimization of MILDwave for reducing the computational time and introducing larger WEC-parks in larger domains, as well as the implementation of new physical processes, a.o. wave directionality and wind regeneration are objectives of this study. Moreover the implementation of radiating devices, the further study of the configuration of the WECs in a farm and finally an analysis in terms of cost and [(produced power)/km2] will be studied. Acknowledgements Research funded by Ph.D. grant of the Research Foundation Flanders, Belgium (\emph{Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek Vlaanderen}(FWO)).References Beels, C., Troch, P., De Backer, G., Vantorre, M., De Rouck, J. (2010a). Numerical implementation and sensitivity analysis of a wave energy converter in a time-dependent mild-slope equation model. doi: 10.1016/j.coastaleng.2009.11.003
Numerical modelling of near-field and far-field wake effects of a farm of Wave Energy Converters using irregular short-crested waves and the effect of wind regeneration in time-dependent wave propagation models
Violette Harnois
I am a Wavetrain2 fellow, I participate in the network, go to courses and conferences. I have completed courses in Cork (Ireland) and Pico (Azores), and went to the 2009 EWTEC conference in Uppsala (Sweden). I am a member of
the AWS engineering team and I provide technical support in the following areas: Design of mooring systems with Orcaflex, importing provided data from WAMIT. The aim is to develop a reliable and affordable mooring system—Marine operations simulation using Orcaflex [e.g. towing]. Post processing of
performance wave tank test data for the cross validation with numerical models. Parametric estimation of device performance and development of associated model for range of device parameter. Performance analysis with proprietary software including linear hydrodynamics calculation. Cost analysis
of mooring system and installation operation.
Design of a new WEC
NOTES
INOREan Contact List (1)
Name Email
Adrien Courbois [email protected]
Alex Raventos [email protected]
Amardeep Dhanju [email protected]
Anders Wedel Nielsen [email protected]
Andrew Good [email protected]
Andrew Vickers [email protected]
Angus Vantoch-Wood [email protected]
Armando Alexandre [email protected]
Brian Flannery [email protected]
Bruce Johnson [email protected]
Cat Killeen [email protected]
Christopher Bassett [email protected]
Damien Scullion [email protected]
Darragh Clabby [email protected]
David Ben Haim [email protected]
David Carr [email protected]
Davide Magagna [email protected]
Elizabeth Christie [email protected]
Emma Sheehan [email protected]
Eoghan Maguire [email protected]
Eric Stoutenburg [email protected]
Florent Guinot [email protected]
Francesco Fusco [email protected]
GIREESH KUMAR V [email protected]
Izan Le Crom [email protected]
João Baltazar [email protected]
Julien Cretel [email protected]
Justin Hovland [email protected]
Kate Freeman [email protected]
INOREan Contact List (2)
Name Email
Kristen Thyng [email protected]
Lander Victor [email protected]
Lars Frøyd [email protected]
Laura Finlay [email protected]
Louise O'Boyle [email protected]
Mairead Atcheson [email protected]
Majid Bhinder [email protected]
Maria Cambell [email protected]
Martyn Hann [email protected]
Matthieu Guérinel [email protected]
Miguel Vicente [email protected]
Nikola Gargov [email protected]
Pascal Galloway [email protected]
Penny Jeffcoate [email protected]
Peter Johnson [email protected]
Philipp Thies [email protected]
Raul Urbina [email protected]
Richard Ferrier [email protected]
Sam Euridge [email protected]
Sam Weller [email protected]
Santiago Ortega Arango [email protected]
Sarah Caraher [email protected]
Scott Beatty [email protected]
Stephanie Ordonez-Sanchez [email protected]
Thea Morgan [email protected]
Thomas Kinsey [email protected]
Thomas Roc [email protected]
Tom McCombes [email protected]
Vicky Stratigaki [email protected]
Violette Harnois [email protected]
Groups Represented
Research Groups
Marine Environment and Technology Center (MARETEC), Department of Me-chanical Engineering, - Joao Baltazar, Mattieu Guerinel
Topic: Prediction of the hydrodynamic performance of horizontal axis marine current turbines with a lifting line code and a Bound-ary Element Method code (PROPAN). The codes are under development at MARETEC/IST and were originally created for the
hydrodynamic analysis of marine propulsors. The PROPAN code is able to calculate the three-dimensional steady and unsteady potential flow including partial cavitation for marine propellers without and with duct, tidal turbines and wind turbines. The
lifting line code has been also applied for the performance prediction of wind turbines.
Participants involved: J.A.C. Falcão de Campos and J. Baltazar
Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), Lisbon, Portugal
Julien Cretel, Brian Flannery The Hydraulics and Maritime Research Centre (HMRC) is a centre of excellence for Ocean
Renewable Energy and Coastal Engineering, providing support to the maritime industry as well as engineering R&D. Since its establish-ment in 1979 the HMRC has undertaken a variety of fundamental and applied
research projects together with industrial design contracts. The centre is semi-autonomous within the department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at University College Cork. It provides infrastructure and research facilities to developers of ocean energy devices and coastal infrastructure. Contract
research is also a major part of HMRC operations; this expands the knowledge base as well as providing a practical application for the research work undertaken.
Hydraulic and Maritime Research Centre, University College Cork, Ireland
Francesco Frusco The wave energy group at National University of Ireland is particularly focused on mathematical modelling, control
and optimisation of wave energy devices. It is supervised by professor John Ringwood, whose main expertise comes from the control systems field, and currently includes one postdoc researcher and three PhD students, but it is quickly growing up and some additional
components have already been planned. Among the group members Dr. Jean-Christophe Gilloteaux is the expert in hydrodynamics and he is particularly involved in hydrodynamic modelling, impact of wave directionality on wave energy converters and shape optimisation. Then Giorgio Bacelli is working on
his PhD research project about power take-off modelling and control system design of a wave absorber. Strictly connected to the optimal control of wave energy converters is the other PhD research project, carried out by Francesco Fusco, about the necessity of wave forecasting and the robust design of control frameworks utilising the prediction. Finally, the PhD student Boris Tellaint is
working at the problem of devices optimisation, taking into account both structural characteristics and control strategies.
National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Ireland
Marine and Industrial Dynamic Analysis (MIDAS) - Kate Freeman, Thomas Roc The Marine and Industrial Dynamic Analysis (MIDAS)
Research Group comprises a multidisciplinary team, primarily from the School of Engineering, but also has links with other Schools within the University of
Plymouth. MIDAS has expertise in artificial intelligence (AI), advanced control
systems engineering theory, multi-sensor data fusion, dynamics, industrial dynamics, thermodynamics and fluids, smart materials, marine power plant, marine vehicle performance prediction, propulsors, integrated navigation systems and marine renewable energy. Of particular interest is the application
of AI techniques to the navigation, guidance and control of autonomous vehicles, wave energy devices and marine propulsion systems. Other areas of interest include system identification, modelling and control of industrial plant, and robotic systems.
University of Plymouth
Angus Vantoch-Wood, Philipp Thies, Andrew Vickers, Nikola Gargov The Renewable Energy group at the University of
Exeter’s Cornwall campus, is a multidisciplinary grouping with expertise linking engineering and physical sciences to policy and economics research. The present group was initiated in 2005 and since then has expanded to include 10 academic staff. It has strong links with academics
from across the University including the Department of Geography, the School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics and the Centre for Ecology and Conservation. Marine renewable energy forms a key component within the research group’s activities having secured funding to play a key role within the
PRIMaRE research collaboration with the University of Plymouth. PRIMaRE is a £15 million research Institute to support the development of marine energy in the South West, particularly the Wave Hub project. The associated strong industrial links with the device developers who will deploy their technology at Wave Hub will focus the generic research activities within the group toward
more industry led projects. Additionally, EquiMar, SUPERGEN and UKERC funding worth over £750k is allowing the department to become a leading research body in the fields of: Wave modelling (prediction and absorption by Wave Energy Converters (WECs)), dynamic modelling of mooring systems for
WECs, uncertainty in wave industry economics and technological development, reliability and survivability of WECs and government policy support for the emerging wave energy industry.
Renewable Energy Group, Exeter University, UK
Atmosphere/Energy program, Stanford University, CA, USA
Eric Stoutenburg The Atmosphere/Energy subprogram in Civil and Environmental Engineering, formed in 2004, combines
atmospheric science with energy science and engineering. The main goals of the program are to educate students and the public, through courses, research, and public outreach, about the causes of climate, air pollution, and weather
problems and methods of addressing these problems through renewable and efficient energy systems. In addition, students learn about feedbacks between the atmosphere and renewable energy systems and the effects of the current energy infrastructure on the atmosphere.
Marine Renewable Energy Group— Mairéad Atcheson, Louise O’Boyle, Darragh Clabby, Andrew Good
The Marine Renewable Energy research cluster is internationally renowned for research in wave power, fast ship wash, saline intrusion, coastal modelling and
wave impacts. The two main growth areas are tidal stream devices and the environmental impact of marine renewables on coastal processes. Work on wave power systems is ongoing both in the laboratory and at prototype scale with companies such as Aquamarine Power and Wavegen. A key area of
research will support the development of numerical models which predict the impact of wave farms on coastal processes. Vital to this work is the new wide wave tank facility at Portaferry with cross current and directional wave capability. The Marine Laboratory at Portaferry is becoming a World Centre of Excellence for testing marine turbines at prototype and model scale.
Environmental monitoring of the MCT 1.2MW machine in Strangford narrows is a world first and is providing essential information for the large scale development of this technology. A second tank at Portaferry is planned which will enable aquatic plants to be subjected to reciprocating and steady state
flow at full-scale and are representative of the effects of storm waves and string tidal currents. The novel design of this facility will enable research which has not been accomplished before at this scale. A second machine, being developed by Oceanflow Energy is currently under test. It is anticipated that
this type of work will expand and fundamental hydraulic work taking place in parallel will inform the design of future machines and build on our extensive knowledge of propeller modelling.
Queen’s University Marine Laboratory (QML) - Damien Scullion Queen's University Marine Laboratory (QML), Portaferry is a research laboratory that serves the School of Biological Sciences and the School of Planning Architecture and Civil Engineering. Facilities in Portaferry are used by
resident staff and students as well as associated researchers from Queen's University and international visitors.
Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland
Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Centre—Kristen Thyng,
Christopher Bassett The Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center (NNMREC) is a partnership between Oregon State University and the University of Washington in the United States. Oregon State University focuses on wave energy research
and the University of Washington focuses on tidal energy research. Tidal energy research is organized around four distinct areas: 1) environmental impacts, 2) site and device characterization, 3) device and array optimization and 4) survivability and reliability. Current work on site characterization is
focused on establishing best practices for field measurements, with guidance from numerical modeling of potential environmental effects. Field observations are being used to analyze temporal and spatial variability of tidally driven currents and ambient noise. This site characterization work is closely coupled to the regulatory process in the United States. The array optimization work
involves simulations of individual devices and will be extended to arrays of devices, as validated by flume experiments. Survivability and reliability efforts are study composite materials for device rotors, the structural implications of using composite materials, and corrosion/biofouling in the marine
environment. The overall mission of NNMREC is to advance knowledge and understanding of marine hydrokinetic energy and the responsible development of marine renewable energy sources.
University of Washington, USA
Robotiker Foundation, Tecnalia Corporacion, Bilbao
David Ben Haim
The Robotiker Foundation is part of Tecnalia Corporation, a R&D Institute
based in Bilbao, Northern Spain. Its Energy Unit main axis concerns renewable energies and their associated power electronics. Since a few years , with the emergence of marine energy, a team is full-time dedicated to moorings and offshore substations design, grid integration case studies, power electronics
solutions for offshore farms etc. Tecnalia is also involved in several European significant projects like the Mutriku Breakwater (16x18.5kW OWCs), and the BIMEP test zone (Biscay Marine Energy Platform), designed for up to 20MW capacity.
Wave energy group—Armando Alexandre, Sam Weller , Penny Jeffcoate
The University of Manchester has different areas of research regarding offshore renewable energy: waves, tidal and wind are the subject of several PhD projects. There are 4 PhD researchers, supported by lecturers and
technical staff, who work on various aspects of Wave Energy Converters (WECs) arrays. To summarise the function of the group, the research is a mixture of numerical (hydrodynamic and control system) simulation and experimental testing. The results of both approaches are compared for
validation and this often leads to collaborative work between the researchers. Certain parts of the work involve a wave energy concept called the 'Manchester Bobber', which is being developed by the University, University of Manchester Intellectual Property Ltd (UMIP) and various industrial partners. The study of tidal energy conversion was also recently re-activated within this
group. The projects being developed concern the modulation of the tidal turbines using numerical methods. There is also work focused on offshore wind particularly the turbine behaviour when subject to lightning strikes.
University of Manchester, UK
Tom McCombes, Stephanie Ordonez-Sanchez The Marine Energy Research Group within ESRU at UoS have developed and performed tank and sea trials on a novel
contra-rotating tidal turbine. Using the facility’s 80x4x5m tow-tank facilities available at Strathclyde as well as a selection of our smaller test facilities (seakeeping tanks and various flumes), we perform experimental work on the design of turbine arrays and optimisation of
device geometry. We have a number of in house codes for blade element, panel methods and various custom CFD type approaches, as well as commercial/large scale codes (FLUENT, CFX, OpenFOAM, etc.). Current research foci are wake dynamics for coaxial and array configurations, self
mooring options, non-linear device hydromechanics and novel ’wet’ PMG design.
Energy Systems Research Unit, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland
Power Machines Group—Sarah Caraher University of Edinburgh’s Machines and Power Electronics group is one of four groups in the Institute for Energy Systems.
Lead by Dr. Markus Mueller the work has concentrated on the design of novel machines for power take off systems in renewable energy converters, such as direct drive wave, wind and tidal current systems, hence focusing on low speed high torque rotary and
linear designs. These designs are being developed to take a fully integrated approach and include electrical, magnetic, structural and thermal aspects. Power electronic converters are being developed for interfacing these renewable energy systems to the grid and for control to optimise the energy
converted. Main research areas include Novel Generator Converters for Renewables, Power Converters for Renewables, Power Supplies and Machine Parameter Identification. Energy and Climate Change Group—Laura Finlay, Eoghan Maguire, Richard
Ferrier
The Institute for Energy Systems (IES) is within the School of Engineering at the
University of Edinburgh and is made up of the following research groups: Marine Energy, Power Systems, Machines and Power Electronics and Energy and Climate. IES is world-leading in marine energy research and development ranging from resource assessment and prediction, to converter design,
optimisation and control. Renewable resources covered include wave, tidal and offshore wind.
Institute of Energy Systems, University of Edinburgh, Scotland
Martyn Hann, Pascal Galloway, Davide Magagna
The Sustainable Energy Research Group within the School of Civil Engineering and the Environment undertakes research in core areas of energy, specifically in the built environment and in renewables. The Group's interests include building
envelopes and their impact on energy and comfort, photovoltaics and marine current energy converters. The aims of the Sustainable Energy Research Group are to promote and undertake fundamental and applied research alongside pre-industrial development in the areas of renewable energy technologies. In addition the group undertakes research related to the efficient use of energy in
the built environment. The knowledge base encompasses: The design of environmentally friendly energy systems, including methods and procedures for their efficient use. Knowledge transfer between research and industry. The promotion of teaching programmes for engineering and science students. The
future performance of the built environment under a changing climate. Particular focus within the group is given to Marine Renewables. Research is focus on both wave and tidal energy applications. The development of new types of wave energy converters is carried both through physical (2D and 3D)
investigation and via numerical simulation. Tidal Energy resources are assessed and focus is given in the determination of drafts currents on tidal farms, and in the evaluation of hydrodynamic design of tidal turbines.
Sustainable Energy Research Group, University of Southampton, UK
Amardeep Dhanju
The offshore wind power research group at the University of Delaware (UD) is part of the Center for Carbon-free Power Integration (CCPI). The center is interdisciplinary, with a primary administrative home in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment,
but with links to the College of Engineering (Mechanical and Electrical Engineering). It conducts research and teaching on technical, policy and regulatory issues related to offshore wind power in the US. The group is currently engaged in installing a utility-scale turbine at UD’s coastal campus in
Lewes, Delaware. This turbine will provide valuable scientific and technical data to assess the potential impacts of proposed offshore wind projects in the region. More information on research group activities are available at http://www.ceoe.udel.edu/windpower/
Center for Carbon-free Power Integration (CCPI), University of Delaware, USA
Raul Urbina University of Maine research has developed a specific focus on alternative energy with a goal of impacting the use of oil in the state for home heating. Maine has the highest percentage of houses heated by fuel oil, over 80%, of any state in the US. This issue has been identified as a significant economic risk for the state economy. The focus of the research at University of Maine is on off-shore wind, tidal energy and solar energy, with an eye toward replacing the existing heating infrastructure in the state with heat pumps or other non-oil based heating technologies. UMaine researchers are using a $951,500 federal appropriation to lead a collaborative effort to advance development of Maine’s tidal power resource. An interdisciplinary research team will assess the feasibility of installing current prototypes and models of tidal turbines off the coast of Eastport in the Western Passage of Passama-quoddy Bay. The researchers also will evaluate the potential environmental impact of harnessing tidal energy. Maine Maritime Academy (MMA) and Portland-based Ocean Renewable Power Company LLC (ORPC ) are also partners in the ongoing research who bring specialized skills and knowledge. Outside of the tidal energy area, both off-shore wind and solar energy represent significant activity at UMaine. The off-shore wind initiative is focused on deep water locations in the Gulf of Maine. In early 2010, UMaine’s Advanced Engineered Wood Compsotes Center will open a $12,500,000 advanced wind blade prototyping facility, where full-scale trial blades can be designed, fabricated and tested.
Maine Maritime Academy, University of Maine, USA
Violette Harnois AWS Ocean Energy is a marine energy technology development company focused on delivering affordable solutions for harness-
ing abundant, clean energy from ocean waves. We are a technology provider rather than a project developer. By transferring key technology development skills from the oil and gas industry and building on our experience of testing full scale wave energy devices off-shore, we have developed a low-risk,
deliverable, utility scale wave energy system. Our rigorous Technology Qualification protocol overseen by a world-class Technical Advisory Committee minimises investment risk at each stage and we are aiming to deliver proven, market-ready technology within 3-5 years.
Archimedes Wave Swing (AWS)
Izan le Crom, Alex Raventos, Miguel Vicente
The Wave Energy Centre (WavEC) is a non-profit organisation, founded in 2003 dedicated to the development and promotion of Ocean Wave Energy through technical and strategic support to companies, R&D institutions and public entities. The Centre also strives to collaborate with companies and other institutions outside Portugal that recognize the necessity of International Cooperation, in particular those who seek an association with Portuguese companies / institutions. The Wave Energy Centre renders services to entities that intend to explore the attractive natural and legal conditions of Portugal for testing and demonstration of wave energy structures. Further, the Centre co-ordinates or participates in R&D projects to support the development of wave energy on national and international level, as e.g. Wavetrain2, CORES, EQUIMAR, WAVEPLAM. The most valuable asset of WavEC is the 400 kW OWC pilot plant (Azores), providing important field experience and monitoring activities to the centre's staff and invited researchers.
Wave Energy Centre (WavEC, Lisbon, Portugal
Thea Morgan The Systems Centre, based within the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Bristol, focuses on research into applied Systems Thinking in an engineering context. Systems think-ing is an approach to problem-solving that considers a problem as part of an overall system. It is a framework based on the idea that component parts of a system can best be understood in the context of interrelationships between parts, and with other systems, rather than in isolation. The centre provides a focal point for collaborations in teaching, research and enterprise. Core activities include working with business and industry to create competitive advantage - through knowledge exchange, technology transfer, and exploration of novel ideas - as well as industrial sponsorship and collaboration on leading-edge research. The centre co-hosts an EPSRC sponsored Industrial Doctorate Centre (IDC) in Systems together with the University of Bath. The IDC focuses on industry-led doctoral research, in a range of subject areas and industry sectors, from renewable energy engineering to sustainable construction. Current industrial doctorate sponsors include Arup, Halcrow, IT Power, Tidal Generation and Rolls Royce. The centre cultivates an international profile in systems research through industrial and research conferences, publications, workshops and a seminar programme.
Systems Centre, University of Bristol
Fluid Mechanics Laboratory—Majid Bhinder The Fluid Mechanics Laboratory (UMR-CNRS 6598) is divided into 4 research teams.
The Hydrodynamics and Ocean Engineering Team
The Computational Fluid Dynamics Team
The Dynamics of Inhabited Atmosphere Team
Thermofluid study of Internal Combustion Engines The experimental facilities of the laboratory are unique in the field of academic
research in France. Facilities include a towing tank of 148 m long, 5 m wide and 3 m depth, with a carriage allowing to tow models up to 8 m/s. A wave maker allows to create front waves up to 0.6 m height. A wave tank of 50 m length, 30 m wide and 5 m depth, with a central pit of 5 m on 5 m on 5 m. A multiflap wavemaker with 48 independant flaps allows to create multidirec-
tionnal waves of 1 m height. A 26 m long wind tunnel with a measurement section of 2 m on 2 m used to make PIV measurement for the study of lower urban atmosphere. A four test-stands for internal combustion engines allowing to test engines from 70 to 400 k (test-stand of 70, 130,150 and 400 kW).
CSTB Nantes—WIND, AIR, WATER, CLIMATIC ENVIRONMENTS (C.A.P.E) - Adrien Courbois
The CAPE department is situated in Nantes (France), where 64 engineers and technicians work on water, wind and climatic engineering problems concerning: air/comfort/environment, wind and structures, water/waste water system, severe climatic conditions/applied climatology and wind. Backed by
twenty five years of experience, CSTB has built different wind tunnels of which a large scale facility, the Jules Verne climatic wind tunnel with 5000 m² of experimental space where are reproduced at the natural scale, combined effects of wind and turbulence, rain, snow, sand, frost, hot and cold temperature from –25° to +55°. Additional facilities are available as a CFD code
and full meteorological sensor equipment.
Ecole Centrale Nantes, France
Anders Wedel Nielsen, GIREESH KUMAR V RAMACHANDRAN The offshore energy research at DTU Mechanical Engineering is concentrated in the Section of Fluid Mechanics and the Section of
Coastal, Maritime and Structural Engineering. There is a strong tradition for research into wind energy that covers aero-dynamics of wind turbines, structural dynamics off wind turbines and aero-acoustics. The aero-dynamic research makes use of front-edge CFD tools, that are developed
within the in-house code EllipSys. Recently cluster-computations of wake effects in offshore wind farms have been carried out. The well-proven aero-elastic FLEX5 model has also been developed at DTU. The hydrodynamic research related to offshore energy is focused on wave modelling, wave-
structure interaction and erosion problems. Several fully nonlinear 3D wave models have been developed and are applied to describe the wave-kinematics at the ocean energy structures. These models are coupled to CFD descriptions of the detailed flow around the structure to allow prediction of wave loads. The knowledge about erosion is applied within extensive research into scour
problems around monopiles exposed to current and waves. The department is engaged in the Statkraft Ocean Energy Research Program, which currently co-sponsors 4 PhD projects and one assistant professorship in Ocean Energy. Two more PhD projects will commence in the spring of 2010. Besides adding a
high-value application perspective to the projects, this collaboration also provide strong network opportunities with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and University of Uppsala (Sweden) which are also partners in the program.
Technical University of Denmark (DTU)
Thomas Kinsey The Computational Fluid Dynamics laboratory is linked to the Mechanical Engineering Department of Laval University. Applied research projects in CFD
are mostly linked to the optimization of hydrokinetic and wind turbines, as well as turbo machinery. Other currently active projects concern numerical modelling aspects as Detached-Eddy Simulation (DES) and fluid-structure interaction.
Mechanical Engineering Department of Laval University, Quebec, Canada
Cat Killeen The National University of Ireland, Galway, located on the west coast of Ireland hosts a diverse range of
research activities, including five thematic areas: Environment, Marine and Energy, Informatics, Physical and Computational Sciences, Biomedical Engineering & Sciences, Applied Social Science and Public Policy and Humanities. On the theme of Environment, Marine and Energy, two
leading research institutes exist: The Environmental Change Institute (ECI) and the Martin Ryan Institute. The ECI is an umbrella institute, bringing together researchers from all faculties with interests in its areas of research. These include four thematic priority areas: Climate Change, Energy, Biodiversity,
Environment and Health and three cross-thematic activities: Environmental Informatics Environmental Technologies and Social and Economic Impacts. Within the ECI there exists other working groups including the Energy Research Centre, with a focus on offshore renewable energy through the Renewable Resources Group. Areas of interest to this group include development of
computational models for offshore engineering structures, research into innovative marine materials and the observation, monitoring and forecasting of tidal and wave patterns. The Department of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering at NUI Galway is affiliated with the ECI and Energy Research
Centre. Research interests within the department include marine and ocean engineering, energy, computational methods and composite materials. To further supplement the research activities in the department and at the University, a new bachelors degree programme in Energy Systems Engineering
has been introduced. Graduates of this programme will have a multi-disciplinary knowledge of all areas of energy engineering applicable to renewable and marine energy.
National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland
David Carr The study which David Carr submitted is the second in a series of studies on OWCs conducted at Trinity
College Dublin. The programme of research aims to develop viable Subterranean OWC wave energy converters.
Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland
Elizabeth Christie
The Maritime Environmental and Water Systems group at the University of Liver-pool focuses on sustainability of ‘water infrastructures’ under the combined global impacts of population growth, increased urbanisation, and climate change. Within recent maritime and coastal research focus has been on computational modelling to predict the behaviour of coastal and estuarial regimes so that the impacts of climate change can be understood and predicted. This includes numerical and physical modelling of coastal hydrodynamics and morphodynam-ics in relation to beach erosion and accretion, also sandbank formation and morphology. Further research in this area has involved the structural risk and integrity assessment of offshore platforms and improved methods for design and risk assessment of sea defences, including development of a new wave overtopping model. Recent research in renewable energy has evaluated the scope for reliable electricity generation from a combination of estuary barrages/ lagoons and tidal stream energy devices using 0D and 2D computer modelling.
Maritime Environmental and Water Systems,
Peter Johnson UCL has a small marine energy research group drawing from the department of mechanical engineering, the department of naval architecture and marine engineering, and the UCL Energy Institute. Two of the relevant research facilities at UCL are described here. The recirculating coastal flume is 18m long, 1.2m wide, and 0.3-0.7m deep; the flume can generate currents in either direction up to 0.7m/s, and also has computer controlled pistons at either end which can gener-ate and absorb ‘shallow water’ waves. The ocean towing tank is a static tank, with 7 independent computer controlled wave paddles at one end for generating ‘deep water’ waves, and a parabolic beach at the other end to absorb the waves. The tank is 18m long, 2.5m wide, and 1m deep and includes a towing carriage above the water. Current research in tidal energy is focussing on the 'Moonraker' tidal current energy device, which is a novel design based on vertical-axis turbines. A model scale turbine is currently being prepared for testing in the recirculating flume at UCL, and a second, larger model is in the design phase. Analysis of the fluid dynamics of this device is also underway. Further, research on cyclic pitching of Darrieus turbines is also ongoing. Research in offshore wind energy is focussing on the concept of an articulated offshore wind turbine for use in medium depth (30-45m) water. Stress analysis and hydrodynamic analysis are being carried out, and experimental studies are in progress.
University College London
Justin Hovland Research on wave energy at OSU was initiated by Dr.
Annette von Jouanne Dr. Alan Wallace in 1998. Initial interest was on linear electric generators and their application to wave energy extraction. They developed the Wallace Energy Systems and
Renewables Facility. This lab is home to the Linear Test Bed, developed specifically for wave energy testing. The lab has also worked on several iterations of direct-drive buoys, producing two large scale buoys
that were tested at sea in 2007 and 2008. Efforts to establish a national center for marine energy began in 2004, and the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center (NNMREC) was established in 2008 as a partnership between OSU (wave power) and the
University of Washington (tidal power). Many academic departments across OSU are involved with the NNMREC and are studying the technological, environmental, and social aspects of wave energy utilization. By a current count, there are 10 faculty and 13 graduate students directly involved. In
technology, we are investigating wave-structure interactions, array behaviour and control, and device reliability and survivability. Environmental studies include impacts on marine mammals and fish, and wave-field suppression and effects on sediment transport. We are also studying public perception of wave
energy and how the public may be kept informed and have a stake in the development of the field. Another central effort is that to establish an ocean test berth where developers can have their devices tested, validated, and
Oregon State University
Lars Frøyd The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) is Norway’s most renowned technical
university with 20 000 students across a wide range of research fields. The research activity is to a large degree coordinated with SINTEF, Scandinavia’s largest independent research institution. Primary research focus related to renewable energy is: Deep water offshore wind
energy, carbon capture and (sub-sea) storage, bio-energy, zero-emission buildings and solar cell technology. In addition there’s growing activity on marine energy technology (tidal energy, wave energy and energy from “slow marine currents”) in cooperation with Statkraft Ocean Energy Research
Program. The university has good lab facilities related to renewable energy: A large wave basin (50*80*10 m) and towing tank (260 m) where offshore wind turbines and tidal turbines have been tested, a large wind tunnel (2.7*1.8 m) and an electro technical renewable energy laboratory where novel generator technology and power electronics for renewable energy applications are
developed and tested.
Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)
Oceanography and Coastal Engineering OCEANICOS, Universidad Nacional de Colombia
Santiago Ortega Arango The Research Group in Oceanography and Coastal Engineering OCEANICOS belonging to the Universidad
Nacional de Colombia, gathers a group of experts and graduate student to carry investigation about the maritime environment in Colombia. The group has been consolidating since the year 2002 and has a wide variety of research interests, including hydrodynamic modeling, oceanography, climate, coastal
engineering, marine and coastal ecosystems, coastal area management, port engineering and recently marine power. This year, Group OCEANICOS, in behalf of Universidad Nacional de Colombia, will carry out a large research project jointly with other universities (UPB) and research centres (CIOH) and
with the one of the larger public utilities companies in Colombia (EPM) to evaluate the marine power generation potential in Colombia. The oceanographic variables that will be studied are waves, tides, currents, and temperature and saline gradients.
Scott Beatty The Institute for Integrated Energy Systems at the University of Victoria (IESVic) promotes feasible paths to sustainable energy systems by developing new
technologies and perspectives to overcome barriers to the widespread adoption of sustainable energy. Founded in 1989, IESVic conducts original research to develop key technologies for sustainable energy systems and actively promotes the development of sensible, clean energy alternatives.All
energy systems require technologies that link end-user services back to energy sources. These linked technologies create pathways that harness, store and convert energy in its various forms to deliver services on demand. Most of today's energy systems require technological pathways based on non-
renewable or greenhouse gas-emitting energy sources, such as hydrocarbons. Because these dominant energy resources are both unsustainable and harmful, IESVic is committed to promoting and developing creative alternatives. Our specific areas of expertise are fuel cells, cryofuels, energy systems analysis and energy policy development.The Subsea Robotics Lab is based at the University
of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada. The objective of the Lab is to generate advances in undersea technologies that are the means for offshore exploration, science, and economic development and in particular, those endeavors that are occurring off Canada's Pacific coast. To date research at the Subsea Lab
focuses on three enabling underwater technologies: Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs), Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs), and moored offshore structures. In each of these areas, the Subsea Lab personnel and our industrial partners blend expertise in computer dynamics simulation and
hardware design and operation to reach our objective.
Institute for Integrated Energy Systems, University of Victoria (IESVic), Canada
Lander Victor, Vicki Stratigaki At Ghent University (Belgium) research on marine energy is carried out in the Coastal Engineering Research Group of its Department of Civil Engineering. The main research focus of our research group is related to the design, construction and monitoring of coastal structures (breakwaters, sea dikes). More specific, the structural response of coastal structures (hydraulic stability of armour units, pore pressure attenuation, wave run-up and wave overtopping) under wave loading is a key area of research. The past decennium, marine energy has become an important topic at the UGent Coastal Engineering Research Group. Currently, 5 engineers (2 doing PhD research and 3 doing project work) are involved in several domains of marine energy: device design and control strategy (point absorbers and overtopping devices), farm configurations, economical aspects, etc. An integrated approach in combining results of full scale measurements on prototype (e.g. measurement jetty at Zeebrugge (Belgium)), physical scale model tests (two wave flumes) and numerical modelling (numerical wave laboratory for wave propagation and interaction with structures)- is always aimed for. Furthermore, our group was the coordinator of the SEEWEC-project, in which the development of a Sustainable Economically Efficient Wave Energy Converter is investigated. This project was funded under the 6th Framework Programme of the European Community.
More information about the UGent Coastal Engineering Research Group can be found on the link: awww.ugent.be.
University of Gent, Coastal Engineering Research Group, Gent, Belgium
The wavetrain2 project continues with the research carried on by the previous project wavetrain. It is a multinational Initial Training
Network (ITN) funded under the FP7-People program, in order to face the wide range of challenges that industrial-scale wave energy implementation faces in the near future, focusing on technical issues, from hydrodynamic and PTO (Power Take-Off) design, to instrumentation issues and energy storage and cost
reduction show to be critical for successful deployment. On the other hand, also non-technical “barriers”, typically less tangible difficulties related to legal issues (licensing, conflicts of use, EIA procedures, grid connection, regional differences) and the non-sufficient representation of socio-economic benefits
of the sector, will be dealt with, as they are seen as a major obstacle for fast implementation on a European scale. The network consists of 13 European partner institutions and 17 associated entities, from research units and device developers to project developers and consultants.
Partners 1 - Wave Energy Centre - Centro de Energia das Ondas (WavEC - Portugal)2 - Instituto Superior Técnico (IST - Portugal)3 - Queen’s University Belfast (QUB - United Kingdom)4 - The University of Edingurgh (UEDIN- United
Kingdom)5 - Wave Dragon Ltd. (WD- United Kingdom)6 - Aalborg Universiteit (AAU - Denmark)7 - SPOK APS (SPOK - Denmark)8 - Tecbhische Universiteir (TUDelft - The Netherlands)9 - AWS Ocean Energy Ltd (AWS - United Kingdom)10 - Ecole Centrale de Nantes (ECN - France)11 - University College Cork (UCC_HMRC - Ireland)12 - Norges Teknisk - Naturvitenskapelige (NTNU - Nor-
way)13 - Fundacion Robotiker (TECNALIA-RBTK- Spain) Associated Partners1 - Instituto Nacional de Engenharia, Tecnologia e Inovação, I.P (INETI - Portugal)2 - EDP - Energias de Portugal (EDP - Portugal)3 - EFACEC Sistemas de Electrónica, SA (Efacec - Portugal)4 - Kymaner Lda. (Kymaner - Portugal)5 - Martifer
Equipamentos para Energia SA (Martifer - Portugal)6 - Norvento Enerxia (Norvento - Spain)7 - Aquamarine Ltd (Aqua - United Kingdom)8 - Instituto Tecnológico de Canarias (ITC - Spain)9 - Swansea University (SwanU - United Kingdom)10 - WAVEenergy AS (WaveSSG - Norway)11 - Second University of
Naples (SUN - Italy)12 - Teamwork Technology BV (TT - The Netherlands)13 - Saipem SA (Saimpem - France)14 - Ocean Energy Ltd. (OE - Ireland)15 - Fred Olsen Ltd (FO - Norway)16 - Ente Vasco de la Energia (EVE - Spain)17 - Garrad Hassan and Partners Ltd (GH - United Kingdom)
wavetrain2
