With members from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), the US Department of Energy-funded wave energy converter (WEC) modeling team won the Center for Ocean Energy Research (COER) Hydrodynamic Modeling Competition.
Through the competition, researchers were challenged to predict the dynamic motion of a floating body in an irregular wave field using computer-based modeling software.
Teams had three months to compile and submit their final simulation results; these submissions were then compared with data from an experimental scenario outlined by COER. Victory would go to the team that simulated the experimental scenario with the smallest variance from the experimental results.
The winning team was revealed at this year’s International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering (OMAE). Using national lab-developed design tools, DoE’s modeling team beat five other international teams, including from MIT, Dynamic Systems Analysis from Canada, and three other international universities.
Organized by the Maynooth University in Ireland, the COER competition was held in conjunction with OMAE in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada, from May 31–June 5, 2015.