Current Research
Optimising the
Performance of Tidal Current Turbines (OPTCurrent)
Managing the Impact of Marine
Chemicals Released at Sea (MIMIC)
Development of an Integrated
Water Quality Modelling System See Details
Drilling/Completion Fluids
Optimisation for HP/HT and Horizontal Wells see details
Horizontal Well Technology
Research see details
Optimising the Performance of Tidal Current Turbines
This is an EU funded project intended to achieve economic exploitation of the European
tidal current energy resource. It is valued at 750,000ecu and is managed and coordinated
by the School of mechanical and Offshore Engineering.
There can be little doubt that tidal currents represent a substantial European energy resource in. It has been reported, that the European Resource could represent a potential for 12,500MW installed capacity. This is spread over some 106 sites with a particular preponderance in the UK, Ireland, Greece, France and Italy.
The optimisation process involves 3 stages
Selection of appropriate site for tidal current power plant.
Hydrographic survey and computational hydrodynamic modelling.
Parametric optimal design
The initial site selection is based on analysis of published tidal data, environmental issues and an assessment of suitable electrical network. The guidelines for this procedure and the optimisation plan was presented at ISOPE 2000 by Dr D E Dimla.
For the second phase of the project two areas were chosen:
Arklow Bank, Ireland
Straits of Messina, Italy
Surveys have been conducted in Aklow by the Hydraulic
and Maritime Research Centre at University College, Cork
and in the Straits of Messina by CEOM
The hydrodynamic modelling was carried out here at RGU using the in-house package Tidesim. This is a software package which discretises sea bed topology and models tidal amplitude and velocity using a finite difference construction of the Navier-Stokes equations for continuity and momentum with a k-e approximation for turbulence.
The data from the tidal model is used to predict the regions of greaest potential and is also used to size a 'ball-park' desing of a monpiled tidal turbine farm. With the use of turbine performance data, provided by IT Power Ltd, the energy production potential is calculated.
The final stage of the optimisation is a routine to minimise the design, based on cost. The cost functions for this process were provided by Thetis Spa.
The project is now into its last six months and the
optimisation is producing results. The model has demostrated a clear ability to
filter the most suitable sites for locating a tidal current farm. Importantly it has
demonstrated the importance of cost optimisation in determining choice of location and
turbine type. The chart to the left shows that depending on the location and turbine
type, a tidal current power plant can generate electricity at cost between 3p/kWh and
20p/kWh.
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Managing the Impact of Marine Chemicals Released at Sea
This project, total value £350,000, is funded by the National Environmental Research Council. The Robert Gordon University is the senior Scottish partner in a four University consortium developing methods of predicting the impact of waste released during drilling and production operations in the North Sea and beyond.
Development of an Integrated Water Quality Modelling System
It is the aim of this project to develop a total integration of biogeochemical impact
predictions with hydrodynamic dispersion methods. This would allow the total modelling of
the impact of liquid waste released into coastal and estuarial waters.
Example of the RGU Tidesim Hydrodynamic Prediction Suite
Drilling/Completion Fluids Optimisation for HP/HT and Horizontal Wells
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Horizontal Well Technology Research
wells
sands and screen systems/membranes
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