OCEAN ENGINEERING

FACILITIES + CAPABILITIES

A 1:50-scale marine model testing facility that accurately simulates towing tests, variable water depths, and scaled wind and wave conditions that represent some of the worst storms possible anywhere on Earth

CAPABILITIES

  • Wind/Wave Basin Testing
  • Scale Model Fabrication
  • Marine Vessel Design
  • Finite Element Analysis
  • Numerical Modeling and Simulation
  • Coupled Analysis
  • Renewable Energy Technology
  • Offshore Testing
  • Coastal Engineering
  • Coastal Resiliency 
  • Nearshore testing

EQUIPMENT

The W2

In 2015, the Center received its largest philanthropic gift to date from the Harold Alfond Foundation to name the $13.8 million Alfond W2 Ocean Engineering and Advanced Manufacturing Labs.

Wave Basin

  • 30 meters long by 9 m wide (98 x 30 ft) with a height of 0-4.5m allowing for highly customizable weather conditions.

Multi-directional Wave Generator

  • 16-paddle wavemaker capabilities:
    • Wave height: 0.05 to 0.8m, 
  • Period Range: 0.5 to 5s,
  • Wave Types: Regular, Irregular, Long and Short crested, and custom time history
  • Can produce wave angles in excess of +/- 60 degrees relative to the basin centerline. 
  • Maximum wave height  0.6 m at T = 1.65 seconds and 0.8 m at T = 2.3 seconds.

Towing System

  • Maximum speed of 1 meters/second (3.3 feet/second)
  • Can support model fixturing and instrumentation

Wind Generator

  • 7 m wide x 3.5 m tall test area
  • Generate wind speeds up to 12 m/s with flow direction relative to waves up to 180 degrees

In-House Model Design and Fabrication Capabilities

  • Model design and fabrication services utilizing a variety of materials including metals, composites, plastics, foams, and others
  • Model characterization including mass, center of gravity, moment of inertia, and 3D geometry scanning
  • In-house fabrication capabilities include a water jet, welder, CNC machine, 3D printer, and other options. See full ASCC capabilities here

Instrumentation

  • National Instruments hardware and software to accommodate a large variety of instrumentation including force, acceleration, and velocity measurements. Non-contact motion tracking above and below the water is made possible by two linked Qualisys camera systems
  • Flexible synchronization and data I/O allow for integrating real-time hardware- or software-in-the-loop control systems and supplemental data acquisition systems. Custom instrumentation and integration support are available
Alfond W2 Wind & Wave Basin
Alfond W2 Wind Wave Basin
Alfond W2 Wind Wave Basin

Recent News

In Ocean Energy Engineering