Tank work first, site data second. The collaboration will produce an open method note and a private dataset for participants.
Vessel time is not free. Enthusiasm is not a substitute for a risk assessment.
The technical question is straightforward to state and expensive to answer: how far downstream does a tidal device's wake meaningfully reduce the resource available to its neighbour, and how does that scale with spacing, blockage and the particular character of a site. Developers currently answer this with assumptions, and consenting authorities are beginning to ask for evidence.
A second device developer is genuinely wanted. Array interaction cannot be studied honestly with one geometry, and the participant who joins gains array-scale data that would be unaffordable alone. The commercial sensitivities are real and are addressed in the terms rather than avoided.
How it runs
The mechanics, stated plainly.
Phase one: tank campaign
Scaled devices at several spacings in the Strathclyde tank complex, with wake measurement and agreed pass criteria. Roughly four months.
Phase two: site measurement
Instrumented measurement at an Orkney site, subject to vessel availability and weather. Scheduled generously, because it must be.
Phase three: method note
An open publication describing the method and the scaling relationships found. The underlying dataset stays with participants.
What you provide
- A device geometry, at model scale, or the modelling capability to study one
- A contribution to vessel and instrumentation costs, scaled to participation
- A named engineer for the tank campaign, present rather than corresponding
- Site data, if you hold any, for the sites under consideration
What you get
- Array-scale wake data that no single developer could economically obtain
- Scaling relationships usable in your own array layout decisions
- Evidence of a kind that consenting authorities are starting to expect
- Co-authorship of the method note, if you want it
Terms
Agreed before anybody contributes anything, which is the only moment it works.
- Device geometries are disclosed only to the extent required for the hydrodynamics
- The measured dataset is held by participants for two years before any release
- The method note is published openly and names participating organisations by consent
- Vessel and instrumentation costs are apportioned before phase two begins, not after