https://www.pure.ed.ac.uk/ws/files/23448017/Borthwick_Abstract.pdf

Marine Renewable Energy Seascape

Reliability analysis of a floating offshore wind turbine using Bayesian Networks

Summary

Changes in natural patterns of animal behaviour and physiology resulting from anthropogenic disturbance may alter the conservation status of a population if they affect the ability of individuals to survive, breed or grow. However, information to forecast population-level consequences of such changes is often lacking.
We developed an interim framework to assess the population consequences of disturbance when empirical information is sparse. We show how daily effects of disturbance, which are often straightforward to estimate, can be scaled to the disturbance duration and to multiple sources of disturbance.
We used expert elicitation to estimate parameters that define how changes in individual behaviour or physiology affect vital rates and incorporated them into a stochastic population model. Model outputs can be used to evaluate cumulative impacts of disturbance over space and time. As an example, we forecast the potential effects of disturbance from offshore wind farm construction on the North Sea harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) population.
Synthesis and applications. The interim framework can be used to forecast the effects of disturbances from human activities on animal populations, to assess the effectiveness of mitigation measures and to identify priority areas for research that reduces uncertainty in population forecasts. The last two applications are likely to be important in situations where there is a risk of unacceptable change in a species' conservation status. The framework should, however, be augmented with empirical data as soon as these are available.

https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/2041-210X.12411

An interim framework for assessing the population consequences of disturbance

Fault Tree Analysis of floating offshore wind turbines

To reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the environmental impact of fossil fuels, China has become the world's largest country in electricity production from renewable energy. The intermittent nature of renewable energy poses challenges to the stability of the existing power grid. Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) that stores energy in the form of high-pressure air has the potential to deal with the unstable supply of renewable energy at large scale in China. This study provides a detailed overview of the latest CAES development in China, including feasibility analysis, air storage options for CAES plants, and pilot CAES projects. According to China's energy structure, the application of CAES is reviewed from the perspectives of grid regulation, energy generation, and demand side management. A cost-benefit analysis shows that promoting electricity trading market could enable CAES to realize high-level arbitrage in areas with large power consumptions, and the integration of CAES with renewable energy generation in the “Three North” regions of China reveals considerable economic and environmental benefits. The challenges for commercializing CAES in China are also discussed.

A review on the development of compressed air energy storage in China: Technical and economic challenges to commercialization

Wave transformation due to multiple bottom-standing porous barriers

Scattering of gravity waves by multiple surface-piercing floating membrane

Hydroelastic impact of a horizontal floating plate with forward speed

Oblique flexural gravity-wave scattering due to an abrupt change in water depth in the presence of a compressive force is investigated based on the linearized water-wave theory in the case of finite water depth and shallow-water approximation. Using the results for a single step, wide-spacing approximation is used to analyze wave transformation by multiple steps and submerged block. An energy relation for oblique flexural gravity-wave scattering due to a change in bottom topography is derived using the argument of wave energy flux and is used to check the accuracy of the computation. The changes in water depth significantly contribute to the change in the scattering coefficients. In the case of oblique wave scattering, critical angles are observed in certain cases. Further, a resonating pattern in the reflection coefficients is observed due to change in the water depth irrespective of the presence of a compressive force in the case of a submerged block.

Debabrata Karmakar

Papers

Wave transformation due to multiple bottom-standing porous barriers

Scattering of gravity waves by multiple surface-piercing floating membrane

Hydroelastic impact of a horizontal floating plate with forward speed

Oblique flexural gravity-wave scattering due to changes in bottom topography

Wave interaction with multiple articulated floating elastic plates