This report presents an assessment of the wave power potential of the Oregon coast and how much of that power can actually be converted into useful energy, based on analysis of the conversion efficiency of the two most advanced and probable technologies: oscillating water columns (OWC) and buoys. The actual...
In 2007, the Oregon Wave Energy Trust (OWET) put out a request for proposals to begin to discover answers to many of the environmental and human dimensions questions. A multidisciplinary group of social scientists – Flaxen Conway, Brent Steel, Michael Harte, and Bryan Tilt, Oregon State University – responded to...
From April 2009 to February 2010, coupons of materials which could be used in the rotor, drive train, or foundation of tidal energy devices were deployed in-situ on the seabed at a prospective tidal energy site to screen for biofouling and corrosion. Materials include glass and carbon fiber composites, stainless...
A numerical study on the dynamic response of a generic rigid water-landing object (WLO) during water impact is presented in this paper. The effect of this impact is often prominent in the design phase of the re-entry project to determine the maximum force for material strength determination to ensure structural...
Ocean Wave Energy Converters (OWECs) operating on
the water surface are subject to storms and other extreme
events. In particular, high and steep waves, especially
breaking waves, are likely the most dangerous to OWECs. A
method for quantifying the breaking severity of waves is
presented and applied to wave data...
An experimental study of the dynamics of a generic rigid body during water impact and an equivalent-radius approximate analytical procedure is developed and calibrated in this study. The experimental tests in a wave basin covered a range of drop heights using a 1/6th-scale model of a practical water-landing object prototype...
This report summarizes the outcomes of a March 22-25, 2010, workshop in Seattle, Washington, on the environmental effects of tidal energy development. The workshop focused on building capabilities to evaluate the environmental effects of tidal energy from turbines placed in the water column throughout the United States. However, it did...
Hypothetical power dissipation by a tidal in‐stream energy conversion device was calculated for Admiralty Inlet, Washington, a highly energetic entrance channel to Puget Sound and currently a candidate for tidal energy development. Power dissipation was calculated for a device of a given capacity as a function of hub height above...
Reference Model #1 is a tidal turbine operating in a narrow, tidal channel. The site is a generalized version of Tacoma Narrows, Puget Sound, Washington. The resource is a mixed, mainly semidiurnal tidal regime with two ebbs and floods each day of unequal strength (i.e., a diurnal inequality in which...
Increasingly diverse interests in commercial and recreational use of marine resources are creating new challenges for coastal ocean management. One concern of increased offshore use and development off the Oregon coast is the potential impact on marine bird populations. We summarized the primary surveys of seabird breeding colonies and at-sea...
This paper presents a parallel implementation and validation of an accurate and efficient three-dimensional computational model (3D numerical wave tank), based on fully nonlinear potential flow (FNPF) theory, and its extension to incorporate the motion of a laboratory snake piston wavemaker, as well as an absorbing beach, to simulate experiments...
In this report we present results of a sound propagation modeling study off the coast of Newport, OR. Preliminary acoustic experimental data was also collected by an underwater glider equipped with a hydrophone to measure sound levels in a short transect perpendicular to the coast and away from a sound...
Potential impacts from sound transmitted by wave energy conversion (WEC) devices on marine ecosystems are not well understood and remain an important environmental concern for the developing marine hydrokinetic renewable energy industry. On August 22, 2012 the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center (NNMREC) began a test deployment of a...
This study was conducted to determine whether a low-powered sound source could be effective at deterring gray whales from areas that may prove harmful to them. With increased interest in the development of marine renewal energy along the Oregon coast the concern that such development may pose a collision or...
As the ocean wave energy field continues to mature,
developers need a generic modeling methodology to test their
designs before building prototypes. A design methodology for a
first-pass time-domain simulation is a goal of this work. Built on
results from the frequency domain analysis, the general
procedure for obtaining time...
Abstract— A highly idealized model of an ocean-fjord system, in which the tide is forced astronomically by the gravitational force of the moon, is used to study effects of localized tidal energy extraction on regional and global tides. The modeled system is energetically complete in the sense that the model...
This project examined the information needs of those interested in the planning for marine renewable energy in Oregon. The objective was to recommend to Oregon State University’s Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center (NNMREC) an approach to facilitating sharing of relevant information concerning marine renewable energy in Oregon and Washington....
In 2008, the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Wind and Water Power Program issued a funding opportunity announcement to establish university-‐led National Marine Renewable Energy Centers. Oregon State University and the University of Washington combined their capabilities in wave and tidal energy to establish the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy...
The first wave energy test at the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center’s (NNMREC) North Energy Test Site (NETS) off the coast of Newport, OR took place in 2012 with the deployment of the WET-NZ wave energy conversion (WEC) device and the Ocean Sentinel instrumentation buoy. The WET-NZ and Ocean...
Abstract— This study describes the sound produced by a
hydrokinetic turbine operating in a riverine environment near
Iguigig, AK (USA). Drifting spar buoys equipped with
hydrophones and GPS loggers were used to characterize
temporal and spatial variability in turbine sound over a range of
turbine operating conditions. Because of the...
The North Energy Test Site (NETS) is PMEC’s non-grid connected, open ocean test site located approximately 4.6 km (2.5 nautical miles) off Yaquina Head, north of Newport, Oregon. The site is about 3.4 km2 (1 square nautical mile) and ranges in depth from 45 - 55 meters. It has a...
The North Energy Test Site (NETS) is PMEC’s non-grid connected, open ocean test site located approximately 4.6 km (2.5 nautical miles) off Yaquina Head, north of Newport, Oregon. The site is about 3.4 km2 (1 square nautical mile) and ranges in depth from 45 - 55 meters. It has a...
Soil‐structure interaction has been an area of active research since the 19th century and has evolved significantly over the past 150 years (Kausel, 2010). Previous soil‐structure interaction studies have been based on numerical simulations (e.g., Costantino et al. 1976; Jensen et al. 1999; Jensen, Edil et al. 2001; Jensen, Plesha...
This document presents the results from discrete element method (DEM) simulations of interface shear compared to previously published data from similar physical experiments. Rough shafts emplaced in granular assemblies are subjected to monotonic and cyclic loading and the results evaluated. The granular‐continuum interface behavior for different anchor surface roughnesses is...
On July 9th, the Pacific Marine Energy Center (PMEC) and PacWave hosted national and international experts from government, academia and industry, and across maritime sectors, to explore future research and testing opportunities associated with the development of the PacWave testing facilities. This report summarizes the findings from the strategic break-out...
The Pacific Northwest of the United States is characterized by one of the greatest annual mean wave power resources in the world. As a result, the wave energy resource offshore of Oregon has been characterized, through hindcast models and physical buoy data, throughout the past decade. Over the past 8...
There is a continuing and increasing need to develop renewable energy technologies that are efficient, cost-effective and produce usable forms of energy. Wave energy converters (WECs) have an opportunity to play a key and significant role in the integration of renewable energy technologies on a commercial scale.
It is estimated...
North America’s West Coast represents some of the highest global potentials for wave energy output. We developed and conducted a survey of a sample of residents (N=2000) in California, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia matched on gender, age, race, and education to the general population. Respondents were asked how much...
Wave energy research and development has been ongoing in Oregon for at least two decades. Substantial interest started in the early 2000’s, flattened in the 2010’s, and is on the rise again. The Oregon wave energy sector recently experienced several sizable developments in 2020 and 2021, making this a critical...