CNR-INSEAN – Water Towing Tank
The towing tanks by CNR-INSEAN form a world-class site for research and industry projects on marine transport, structures and ORE systems, and are classified as Large Oceanographic Infrastructures by the Italian National Research Council. The facility has two infrastructures:
- Wave towing tank (220 m long, 9.0 m wide, 3.5 m deep) equipped with regular/irregular wave-maker, towing carriage (max. speed 10 m/s) and movable platform
- Calm water towing tank (470 x 13.5 x 6.5 m) with a towing carriage with max. speed 15 m/s
A movable wind-generation rig is available in both tanks. The infrastructure is relevant for testing wave, tidal, offshore wind devices with TRL up to 5. Large-scale models can be tested under combinations of waves, winds and current (by towing) to reproduce relevant operating conditions in a highly controlled and repeatable environment.
Advanced measuring systems are available to fully characterize operating conditions and device performance, including Laser-Doppler velocimetry equipment (LDV, PIV, Stereo-PIV), high-speed cameras, hydroacoustics sensoring. Acquisition systems can be interfaced with models and equipment provided by TNA Users.
Both wave and calm water tanks provide unique conditions for testing complex systems (i.e., hybrid wave/wind concepts), exceptionally large models and model arrays. Tidal turbine model with diameter of 1.5 m was hosted in FP7 MaRINET.
The facility is designed and equipped for hydrodynamics studies on marine structures and vehicles. In case of ORE systems, standard services include:
- system performance, interaction with PTOs
- reliability and survivability under combined effect of waves, winds, currents
- simulation of mooring systems for floating devices
- Analysis of device environmental impact
- simulation of deployment, maintenance operations, including device interactions with floating platforms or with supply vessels
More information available here: http://rid.eurocean.org/AddUpdateData/Details/10432