Integrated Numerical and Physical Modelling of Offshore Renewable Energy Systems

浮动风、波浪和潮汐能系统是可再生能源发电的新前沿。加拿大的机遇是巨大的，芬迪湾拥有世界领先的潮汐潜力，而包括五大湖在内的深海海域拥有强大的风力资源。世界各地的研究人员都在致力于将这些技术推向商业化。然而，从运动流中提取能量的行为使得复杂的运动和结构载荷难以预测。准确评估这些因素对于提高效率、降低成本和风险至关重要。为了更好地解决系统组件与周围环境之间的相互作用，并最终在设计过程中实现更大的直觉，无论是数值模拟还是规模物理实验，都需要更通用和联系的建模技术。拟议的研究计划的目标就是开发这样的技术。

Floating wind, wave, and tidal energy systems are a new frontier for renewable electricity generation. The opportunity in Canada is immense, with world-leading tidal potential in the Bay of Fundy and strong wind resources over the deep waters offshore, including the Great Lakes. Research around the world is engaged with developing these technologies toward commercial readiness. However, the action of extracting energy from moving flows makes for complex motions and structural loads that are difficult to predict. Accurately evaluating these is essential to maximizing efficiency and minimizing cost and risk. More versatile and connective modelling techniques are needed whether numerical simulations or scaled physical experiments in order to better resolve the interactions between system components and the surrounding environment, and to ultimately enable greater intuition in the design process. The goal of the proposed research program is to develop such techniques. Work will proceed along three fronts. One theme will expand numerical modelling tools to capture the dynamic coupling between multiple floating structures that are moored together, including how the mooring lines and the waves interact. Another theme will continue pioneering work on how simulations and experiments can be coupled together in real time to model floating wind turbines. This involves finding new ways to test floating wind turbines in wave basins where the wind load is applied by a simulation-controlled actuation system. The third theme, which integrates the other two, looks at developing a ubiquitous coupling framework to facilitate combining different numerical (and possibly physical) models in order to better simulate entire offshore renewable energy systems. Such a framework could bridge specialized modelling research in different laboratories around the world and enable new possibilities for using the best tools in all parts of device simulation. Ultimately, the goal of such work is to build towards a new, more collaborative and connective paradigm in how offshore systems modelling research is done. The development of more versatile and connective tools will also raise new possibilities for greater integration of advanced modelling techniques in the design process to the benefit of future designs. For Canada, the proposed program will contribute to accelerated cost-effective adoption of offshore renewable energy sources and enhance domestic capacity in this rapidly-growing sector.