Novel Acoustic Methods for Directly Monitoring Seabed Sediment Transport, Geohazards & Scour

This project will develop and field test novel acoustic methods for directly monitoring and understanding processes of seafloor sediment transport and scour, including around Offshore Wind Farms. These seabed processes can be a significant geohazard to offshore wind installations and their seabed power cables, telecommunication cables, oil and gas pipelines and other strategic seafloor infrastructure.
The PhD will be based initially around a series of calibrated flume experiments to understand what determines the nature of acoustic signals emitted by seabed sediment transport or erosion processes. For example, it will determine how the power spectrum of radiated sound is affected by flow speed, bedload transport rates and intensity of grain collisions, grain sizes present (sand or mid), and presence and nature of dense near bed layers (e.g. layers of saltating grains or sheet-flow). These laboratory experiment (supervised by Simmons in Hull) will help to interpret acoustic field data to better monitor and understand seabed sediment transport.

Hydrophone and/or ADCP data will then be used to monitor processes of sediment transport and seabed scour near Offshore Wind Facilities in the N. Sea. This work will use hydrophone data sets that are already acquired by Neasham in Newcastle.

The PhD will finally analyse a series of major field data sets involving hydrophone records of active sediment transport processes. They will include major new field data sets offshore West Africa, California and British Columbia. This work will show how hydrophones can be used to understand hazardous seabed flows, and processes of sediment transport and seabed scour, which may underpin future global seabed listening networks. The aim here is to further test acoustic methods needed to quantify sediment transport around Offshore Wind Facilities, and make use of existing opportunities provided by two NERC funded projects worth over £3.2 Million. This scale of funding is simply not available through the CDT itself (where budgets for single projects are less than £20k at most).

This project will also allow the student to take part in two major oceanographic cruises, which will use a wide range of seabed surveying and monitoring tool, thus providing outstanding field training. They are an outstanding training opportunity. It will also include training via analysis of hydrophone data from locations near Offshore Wind Farms in the North Sea.

The Aura CDT will produce offshore wind specialists with a multi-disciplinary perspective, and will equip them with key skills that are essential to meet the future sector challenges. They will be highly employable due to their training being embedded in real-world challenges with the potential to become future leaders. As such, they will drive the UK forward in offshore wind development and manufacturing. They will become ambassadors for cross-disciplinary thinking in renewables and mentors to their colleagues. With its strong industrial partnership, this CDT is ideally placed to produce high impact research papers, patents and spin-outs, with support from the Universities' dedicated business development teams. All of this will contribute to the continued strong growth of the offshore wind sector in the UK, creating more jobs and added value to the UK economy. Recent estimates suggest that, to meet national energy targets, developers need >4,000 offshore wind turbines, worth £120 billion, over the next decade.

Alongside the clear benefits to the economy, this CDT will sustain and enhance the UK as a hub of expertise in this rapidly increasing area. The UK has made crucial commitments to develop low carbon energy by 2050 and this will require an estimated ~£400m UK RDI spend per year by 2032. Whilst the increase in R&D is welcome, this target will be unsustainable without the right people to support the development of alternative technologies. It is estimated that 27,000 skilled jobs, including in research, will need to be generated in the OSW sector. Of these, ~2,000 are estimated to require HE Level 7-8 qualifications. This CDT will directly answer the higher-level leadership skills shortage, enabling the UK to not only meet these targets but lead the way internationally in the renewables revolution.

Industry and policy stakeholders will benefit through-
a) Providing challenges for the students to work through which will result in solutions to pressing and long-term industry challenges
b) Knowledge exchange with the students and the academics
c) New lines of investigation/ revenue/ process improvement
d) Two-way access to skills/ equipment and training
e) A skilled, challenge focused workforce
Society will benefit through-
a) Offshore wind energy that is lower cost, more secure and more environmentally friendly, with a lower impact on precious marine eco-systems.
b) Engineers with new skillsets and perspectives that can understand environmental constraints
c) Skilled workforce who are mindful of the environmental and ethical impact
d) Graduates that understand and value equality, diversity and inclusion

The research projects undertaken by the Aura CDT students will focus on projects with a strong impact. The 6 themes have all been chosen after extensive industrial consultation and engagement that accelerated after the formation of the wider Aura initiative in 2016. The collaborative approach which has shaped this proposal will be continued and enhanced through the life of the CDT to ensure that it remains aligned to industry priorities.

The interdisciplinary nature of the OSW industry means that there are a wide range of stakeholders including large and small companies who are active at different stages of OSW farm development. These industry players will help ensure the training and experience provided in the CDT addresses the range of challenges that the industry faces.