Oil and gas software helps advance renewable energy technology.
Wind and solar systems are dominant in the renewable energy mix, with wave devices sometimes facing challenges in achieving the technical and commercial readiness levels to make this technology prolific.
Apart from the complex engineering factors, a key issue is the availability of suitable simulation packages. A variety of software products exist and while some are adequate for concept screening, many are not sophisticated enough to support detailed engineering design or can be costly and difficult to use.
Wood Group has spent more than 30 years developing software tools for the engineering analysis of offshore structures and to determine their long term suitability in the offshore environment.
Our leading structural analysis product, Flexcom, has underpinned the engineering design on some of the world’s most demanding offshore projects. Although traditionally used in oil and gas, Flexcom is now being adapted to the renewable energy sector.
The software has already been successfully used to optimise a highly innovative wave energy device concept, which was a finalist in the U.S. Department of Energy Wave Energy Prize. Data obtained from empirical tank tests, combined with an advanced coupled numerical simulation technique provided by Flexcom, is helping to enhance the design and further improve the industry-leading performance metrics demonstrated by the device.
We combine marine engineering expertise and software development skills to help wave energy device developers gain a deeper understanding of the structural response and energy generation potential of their designs; supporting from early concept validation to full scale modelling.
For more information on Flexcom, please contact Aengus Connolly, senior consultant, engineering and visualisation: aengus.connolly@woodgroup.com
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