We are very proud that Stephanie Lowell has just received a Mitacs Research Training Award (RTA) — Congratulations!
The Mitacs award will allow Stephanie to study the design and parameter influence of our new wavemaker system that we have installed on our laboratory flume tank. Stephanie’s work builds upon our previous research involving wavemakers that were designed to aid in launch and recovery operations and towed body dynamics.
Project Description:
To study advanced marine engineering applications such as ship motion and tow-body dynamics, reproducing the free surface of the ocean on a laboratory scale is essential. The study and validation of wavemakers is therefore critical to generate accurate results. Of the existing wavemakers, plunger-types are the only wavemakers that allow for flow across its boundary; however, research has focused on water without a steady current. The proposed research therefore aims to determine how the inclusion of a steady water current impacts the design and operation of a plunger-type wavemaker.
The influence of the input parameters, including the water current, on the output of the theoretical plunger-type wavemaker model will also be investigated through a sensitivity analysis. Insight to the wavemaker model’s behaviour will allow for improvements to the wavemaker’s theoretical and experimental design. Investigation of the influence of water current on the plunger-type wavemaker will contribute an important advancement to marine engineering applications. The work will also assist the applicant’s current M.A.Sc. research which focuses on using a stereo-vision camera to quantify the free surface of the ocean in real-time. Ocean technology is a priority research area in Canada and the outcome of the proposed project will provide meaningful knowledge towards future studies on plunger-type wavemakers. The work will impact both academic and industrial research where the inclusion of a steady water current is important. Additionally, the skills and knowledge gained by the applicant through the project will provide useful and transferable skills to the multibillion-dollar maritime industry in Canada.