The research and development plan to be carried out for this SOS-WindEnergy project within the CONSTRUCT and CIIMAR units at FEUP and in cooperation with the UT-Austin (UTA) research team (Prof. Lance Manuel) takes into account the interaction promotion in the academic and research activities, more precisely in the area related to offshore renewable energy.
Doctor José António Correia and his team have a wealth of experience in the domains of marine renewable energies, offshore, coastal and port engineering, as well as, fatigue analysis and design of offshore structures.
UT-Austin’s efforts in research related to the offshore oil and gas industry began in 1988 with funding from the National Science Foundation, which helped found the Offshore Technology Center (OTRC). This center, created to conduct basic engineering research and develop systems for the economical and reliable recovery of hydrocarbons at ocean depths of 3,000 feet or more, achieved a leadership role in cutting-edge research on critical elements of the deepwater production problem. The UT-Austin team will be led by Professor Lance Manuel, who has worked for many years, on problems related to the safety and reliability of fixed and floating offshore platforms, offshore wind turbines, and wave energy converters. His group’s main thrust is directed towards better understanding the dynamics of offshore structures, and on uncertainty propagation from the environment through system response and to design. Prof. Manuel is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the ASME Journal of Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering.
To this objective, this exploratory research project, SOS-WindEnergy, is proposed, which aims to improve the interaction between the two institutions, University of Porto and UTAustin, in an area considered to be a priority for Portugal which is the energy production using the source of offshore wind renewable energy. Portugal is a country with one of the largest sea areas in Europe and, in this sense, it seeks to invest and generate scientific knowledge in this area, enabling the development of fundamental know-how for the Portuguese economy and contributing to sustainable development, always taking environmental considerations into account.
Together, the two teams will bring important synergies towards addressing the problem of how to safely and responsibly use or reuse existing sites and systems in place for future offshore wind energy generation.
José A.F.O. Correia
Professor/Researcher
Department of Civil Engineering
Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto
Rua Dr Roberto Frias
4200 465 Porto
Portugal
T: 00351 220413703
Lance Manuel
TAE Research Foundation Professor of Engineering
Mechanics, Uncertainty, and Simulation in Engineering (MUSE)
Dept. of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering (CAEE)
The University of Texas At Austin (UT-Austin)
Main Building (MAI)
110 Inner Campus Drive
Austin, TX 78705
T: 512-471-3434