Project

The Doctoral Network (DN) “RESCUER“ (Resilient Solutions for Coastal, Urban, Estuarine and Riverine Environments) will focus on the training of young researchers (Fellows) in the general area of coastal oceanography, hydraulic and coastal engineering, applied mathematics, and scientific computation. The network will leverage advances in the numerical treatment of hydrodynamic equations in the past decade to create multi-physics models able to address pressing needs in practical modeling of various phenomena in the coastal zone with the goal of improving overall safety of coastal areas.

Ensuring the safety of property and commercial developments onshore and offshore requires an integrated approach, including phase-resolving wave modeling, tracking and mitigation of morphological changes, potential flooding in urban areas and monitoring of water quality. While protective structures and emergency plans for catastrophic storm waves and storm surges are well established, the confluence of global warming and sea level rise with other known natural risk factors and increasing human activity create a new set of hazards and requires new thinking in coastal modeling and the planning of mitigation strategies.

To address the challenges outlined above, we will rely on numerical techniques which are in each case tested against existing models and validated with experiments and field measurements. In our work with consulting companies and government agencies, we have identified a trend towards coupled models instead of traditionally used stand-alone models and a need for operational capabilities. These needs will be answered using new multi-physics models, state-of-the-art numerical methods, image recognition algorithms and innovative programming techniques such as GPU programming. The synergistic interplay of physical modelling, numerical analysis and large-scale simulation with lab experiments and field work plays an essential role in this network. Our project goes beyond the state of the art by improving existing numerical models, employing GPU programming and super-resolution techniques and building a unified suite of solvers that will allow us to address the multi-physics problems in coastal, estuarine, riverine and urban areas.

An CETPartnership project with the aim to enhance shared mooring system design for floating offshore wind farms.

The flow over ship propellers is under investigation. In particular propellers of unconventional geometry such as tip-fin propellers are being investigated, in particular with a view to improve efficiency and limit noise and vibration impacts. A comparative study of a tip-fin propeller and a conventional propeller is being carried out. Both propellers are designed for the same ship and the same service conditions. The examination is made theoretically as well as experimentally. The experiments include open water, self propulsion and cavitation tests.

Methods for predicting stochastic wave load responses in ships and offshore structures are developed. The methods
take into account the dynamic behaviour of the structures and at least some of the non-linearities in the wave induced
loadings. Numerical results obtained for actual structures are presented with special emphasis on their usefulness in
design procedures covering both extreme responses and fatigue damage predictions.

The recent IMO Resolution MSC 19(58) points towards a more rational way of obtaining subdivisions in ships to ensure a sufficient stability in damage conditions. In the preliminary ship design phase it is important to know how the attained index and the possible oil outflow in a collision are influenced by the actual positions of the watertight bulkheads. This information should be given in form of sensitivity factors yielding the change in attained index and oil outflow for a unit reposition of user-defined bulkheads. A rational procedure to achieve this information is
developed.

Floating Power Plant (FPP) are a Danish company who develop a novel floating wind concept, with the foundation constructed using flat panels instead of cylindrical structures. Whilst this enables a fast-commercial roll-out due to the lack of competition for manufacturing facilities, a large contingency presently needs to be included in the design as hydrodynamic phenomena occur that are not well represented by industry-standard simulation tools. FPP have already taken the concept from the original idea of a Danish inventor, through a scaled offshore prototype in Danish waters to a multi-MW demonstrator (to be deployed in a parallel co-funded EU project).

This project will solve the final challenge for FPP, taking the technology from the multi-MW demonstrator stage to a cost-competitive mass-produced concept. The output will be three large demonstration activities and six innovations, including a commercially-ready simulation tool and two fully optimised commercial designs, WindFlex (a floating wind turbine with integrated hydrogen energy storage) and WindWaveFlex (a floating wind turbine with integrated wave energy converters and hydrogen energy storage).

The region of Southern Denmark has had a long historical tradition for a strong involvement in the maritime sector, but the region has for the last 50 years been especially known for its deep involvement in the offshore sector, with Esbjerg as a key location in Northern Europe. The sector is now well-established and continues to grow, currently undertaking a radical transformation. This development is influenced by different factors, including an increase in offshore oil and gas decommissioning, as well as the rapidly growing offshore wind farms and plans for building large energy islands. These islands will serve as electro fuel production and bunkering facilities but will also become hubs that facilitate better connections between the energy generated from offshore wind constructions and the zero emission energy systems ashore. These developments all lead to important challenges and opportunities for the maritime sector. For instance, a strong focus on the maritime offshore sector is essential to realize the plans for developing the energy offshore sector and the connected goals for costs, efficiency, sustainability, performance etc. in all stages of the life cycle, from design, construction, operation, and maintenance to the final decommissioning. The maritime offshore activities will therefore be essential for reaching the United Nations (UN) 2030 and 2050 climate targets. The idea of the project is to investigate multiple aspects of this transition.
The project portfolio consists of six interconnected work packages (WP 1-6) that serve as part of a holistic collaboration platform that will significantly energize the maritime research at SDU. The topics are interdisci-plinary and cover a wide range of maritime disciplines, such as:

• Sustainability, safety, and risks
• Energy efficiency, maintenance, propulsion technologies and fuels
• Business history
• Business and Logistics
• Regulation
• Human factors, health, socio-economic issues
• Naval architecture and maritime operations

All work packages, though separate in their research focus, are interconnected and important to the project, as the breadth and interdisciplinarity of the initiative is what makes it unique in a Danish context.

SDU Maritime research platform is an interdisciplinary research platform with researcher from four different faculties at SDU (Health, Humanities, Social Science and Engineering). The work is related to research in the maritime part of the offshore sector. The topics cover a wide range of disciplines as e.g., sustainability, safety, risk, human factors, history, logistics, business, regulation, naval architecture, energy, and maritime operations.