Wave energy technology in China could potentially contribute 13GW of installed power to the country's energy needs with particular benefit to coastal regions that have limited local energy resources. Commercial wave energy development in China is hampered by low wave power density levels between 2-7kW/m, an order of magnitude less than the UK, yet suffers on average from more than 10 high intensity typhoon events a year, causing extreme wind and wave conditions. This project aims to address the survivability of wave energy converters in Chinese waters during reoccurring high intensity typhoons. The research will explore the development of cost-effective mooring systems.

This project aims to develop a framework that will integrate data collected and recorded through a Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) system for marine energy converters, in order to estimate reliability levels at component and system level in real time and evaluate its ability to further fulfil its intended function. Obtaining a more well-informed understanding of the actual state of the system, alternative operational strategies can be adopted, particularly taking into consideration its residual capacity after extreme environmental events, optimizing its inspection and maintenance scheduling and hence reducing the OPEX. Application of the developed framework on an existing prototype wave device, already developed by the Chinese partners, will allow its validation and extension to future applications. This reference case will be employed in order to classify its components and determine potential failure modes and limit states to assess failure. From the key failure mechanisms that will be identified, arrangements for Structural Health Monitoring will be proposed obtaining data from relevant measurements (ie strains and accelerations) that can then inform the reliability evaluation in real time, updating its operational strategy, particularly taking into consideration residual capacity after extreme environmental events. Outcome of the project will be a generic framework applicable to a range of marine energy devices.

Wave Energy Converters (WECs) transform the kinetic and/or potential energy of ocean waves into electricity. Among different types of WECs technologies, none of them achieves economic competitiveness. The main challenges of commercialisation of existing WECs arise from the devices' low-performance efficiency and the WEC system's vulnerability under harsh sea conditions. Inspired by aquatic animals' flexible body and fins, a range of adaptive, flexible materials have attracted attention in WEC development in the past decade. The specific characteristic of such material is that its shape deforms adapting to the loading applied to it. There are several benefits using a flexible material as part of WEC structures. A multidisciplinary team of researchers from the University of Strathclyde in collaboration with National Manufacturing Institute Scotland in Lightweight Manufacturing Centre (NMIS-LMC) will develop a methodology to address different challenges regarding design and manufacturing of Bionic Adaptive Stretchable Materials for WEC (BASM-WEC). This will be supported by industry partner and research institution, e.g. Wave-venture, ORE Catapult Wave & Tidal Energy Sector, National Subsea Research Initiative in UK, National Ocean Technology Centre in China, and SBM Offshore based in France. To achieve the main objectives, this project will develop a hydro-elastic analysis tool based on advanced Computational Fluid Dynamics techniques to provide a robust analysis method for prescribing the detailed materials specification required by the desired WEC functionalities and allow the benchmarking of the lower-order rapid models developed in parallel for device optimization. Tailoring of material functions and performance will be achieved through the concept of both composite and hybrid materials. The former involves modifying flexible parent materials with secondary addition of dissimilar materials (e.g. functional fillers and fibres), and the latter involves developing a multi-layered structure with each layer serving different functions. Together, these techniques will guide new material development through fine-tuning material properties by targeted material selection and modification. The complex physics and effect of flexible material will be crosschecked by simulation method and laboratory testing at the small scale device level, providing new insight. Knowledge of complex coupled hydro-elastic models will be beneficial to general offshore renewable energy.