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/ Events

Peaks and troughs of wave energy, the dreams and the reality

13 - 15 October 2010 12:00 - 12:00

 

Organised by Professor Francis Farley FRS, Professor Rod Rainey and Professor John Chaplin
 

Wave energy machines are now deployed and working, others have clearly failed, new devices are in trial. Speakers will survey the fundamental physics, engineering in the real world, large forces but low velocity, deployment, maintenance and survival: dreams that did not work, what works but is too expensive, what might work better. How much energy is available, what can we expect? 
There is an agreed theoretical framework, a guide to what is possible and impossible.  The fundamental theory is well understood and the various motions in the sea which can be exploited.  Heave, surge and pitch, all have their advantages... and limitations. Many devices work well in the laboratory; but cost, useful life and survival in storms are the crucial factors that determine commercial viability.  Industry leaders will share their experiences, describe the status of the best current devices and discuss the potential for worldwide deployment.
 
Speakers with experience of oil platforms will speak about rogue waves, strength and fatigue, and the regulatory and insurance costs that must be included. Lessons will be drawn from the deployment of wind farms.
 
Finally leading scientific advisers from UK, Eire, France and Portugal will discus their national plans and possible collaboration in exploiting the wave power of the Atlantic.
 
The speakers include leading figures in this field and we are asking them not to advertise their favourite systems but rather to present a balanced rational assessment of the possibilities.

Download the programme here (PDF).
 
Biographies and audio recordings are available below.
 
The proceedings of this meeting are scheduled to be published in a future issue of Philosophical Transactions A.

Organisers

  • Professor Francis Farley FRS, University of Southampton, UK

    An experimental physicist with experience of radar, electronics, reactors, particle physics, cancer treatment and wave energy. Built the first 3 cm ground based radar controlling the 15" guns at Dover (1942). Added a new Doppler system to detect moving vehicles on land, used by the army in Italy. Experiments with first British/Canadian reactor at Chalk River (1945). Taught physics in New Zealand, delegate to UN Conference on Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy (1955). Particle physics at CERN and Brookhaven, precise tests of relativity, measured the magnetic moment of the muon to better than 1 part in a billion. Cancer treatment with particle beams in Nice. Professor FarleyHas worked on wave energy since 1977, inventor of the triplate, the buckling resonant raft, the distensible buoy, the wave powered hydraulic ram, co-inventor of Anaconda.

    Graduated University of Cambridge, PhD, ScD Fellow of Royal Society (1972), Hughes Medal (1980), Honorary Fellow, Trinity College Dublin (1987)

    Publications: Methuen monograph Elements of Pulse Circuits (1955), papers on the above subjects. 

  • Professor Rod Rainey, Oil and Gas Division, Atkins Ltd, UK

    Rod Rainey read first engineering, then maths, at Cambridge University, graduating in 1971. He also has an MSc from Imperial College London, in control theory. He worked as a design engineer for Yarrow shipbuilders on the Clyde, and as a research fellow at Imperial College, before joining Atkins Oil and Gas division in 1978, where he has been ever since. He specialises in the scientific analysis of ships and offshore structures, and was responsible for the development of the AQWA suite of computer programs, which are the world’s most widely used in this field. He has written a number of well-known scientific papers, on slender body theory (JFM 1989, Proc.R.Soc 1995), on freak waves (J.Eng.Maths 2007), and on tidal barrages (JFM 2009). He has been closely associated with the development of the Pelamis and Anaconda wave energy devices. He is a visiting professor at the University College London and Southampton University. 

  • Professor John Chaplin, University of Southampton, UK

    John Chaplin graduated with a BSc in Civil Engineering from the University of Bristol in 1967 and was awarded a PhD from the same department in 1971. Between periods in industry he has since held posts at the Universities of Karlsruhe and Liverpool, and at City University, London. Now a Research Professor at the University of Southampton, his research activities focus on experiments on various aspects of water wave mechanics and fluid/structure interaction, and related analysis.

    From the mid-1970s, when wave loading on stationary and compliant components of offshore oil and gas systems was far from well understood, he worked on developing an understanding of interactions between waves and structures, with particular emphasis on wave-induced and vortex-induced vibrations. The results of this work have been fed into offshore design practice and continue to be used in validation of numerical models. Other areas of research include the two-phase flow in breaking waves in the ocean, and contributions to the understanding and development of several wavepower devices, including, since 2006, the Anaconda.