Experimental measurements of flow impacts on offshore wind cables and marine ecosystems

Project Description:

This PhD scholarship is offered by the EPSRC CDT in Offshore Wind Energy Sustainability and Resilience, a partnership between the Universities of Durham, Hull, Loughborough and Sheffield. The successful applicant will undertake six-months of training with the rest of the CDT cohort at the University of Hull before continuing their PhD research in Hull with co-supervision from Durham University. 

The expansion of Floating Offshore Wind is essential if the UK is to meet targets for renewable energy generation. Dynamic subsea power cables (dSPCs), used in floating offshore technologies, are vulnerable to fatigue failure initiated by oscillations and vortex-induced vibrations. The long-term survivability of dSPCs in the highly energetic seas targeted for deployment is a concern to engineers and investors. An additional concern is the presence of marine organisms that settle and grow on submerged structures – a process known as biofouling. Biofouling will increase drag and mass loading on dSPCs but will vary with many factors, including geographic location, hydrodynamic conditions, and water depth. This PhD will build upon numerical modelling studies to employ physical modelling experiments in state-of-the-art facilities combined with tomographic tracking velocimetry to study flow and in situ interactions with seaweed and epibenthic invertebrates in a variety of wave and tidal conditions. These experiments will be used to validate computational fluid dynamics modelling to determine drag and vortex-induced vibrations on dSPCs associated with biofouling.  

Better understanding of the hydrodynamic consequences on dSPCs from key fouling taxa in a variety of environmental conditions will help to mitigate risks and uncertainties in the offshore wind and wider renewable energy sectors and improve management of biofouling. 

Training and development

You will benefit from a taught programme, giving you a broad understanding of the breadth and depth of current and emerging offshore wind sector needs. This begins with an intensive six-month programme at the University of Hull for the new student intake, drawing on the expertise and facilities of all four academic partners. It is supplemented by Continuing Professional Development (CPD), which is embedded throughout your 4-year research scholarship.

Project-specific training and development opportunities may include tomographic tracking equipment used in experimental flumes and OrcaFlex and ANSYS/UFLEX software (or similar) for modelling cable behaviour..

Entry requirements

If you have received a First-class Honours degree, or a 2:1 Honours degree and a Masters, or a Distinction at Masters level with any undergraduate degree (or the international equivalents) in Biosciences, Engineering, Environmental Science, Physics, or Mathematics and Statistics, we would like to hear from you.

If your first language is not English, or you require Tier 4 student visa to study, you will be required to provide evidence of your English language proficiency level that meets the requirements of the Aura CDT’s academic partners. This course requires academic IELTS 7.0 overall, with no less than 6.0 in each skill.

If you have any queries about this project, please contact Dr Andrew Want: a.want@hull.ac.uk 

You may also address queries about the CDT to auracdt@hull.ac.uk.

Watch our short video to hear from Aura CDT students, academics and industry partners:

Funding

The Offshore Wind CDT is funded by the EPSRC, allowing us to provide scholarships that cover fees plus a stipend set at the UKRI nationally agreed rates. These are currently £20,780 per annum at 2025/26 rates and will increase in line with the EPSRC guidelines for the subsequent years (subject to progress).

Eligibility

Research Council funding for postgraduate research has residence requirements. Our CDT scholarships are available to Home (UK) Students. To be considered a Home student, and therefore eligible for a full award, a student must have no restrictions on how long they can stay in the UK and have been ordinarily resident in the UK for at least 3 years prior to the start of the scholarship (with some further constraint regarding residence for education). For full eligibility information, please refer to the EPSRC website.

We also allocate a number of scholarships for International Students per cohort.

Guaranteed Interview Scheme

The CDT is committed to generating a diverse and inclusive training programme and is looking to attract applicants from all backgrounds. We offer a Guaranteed Interview Scheme for home fee status candidates who identify as Black or Black mixed or Asian or Asian mixed if they meet the programme entry requirements. This positive action is to support recruitment of these under-represented ethnic groups to our programme and is an opt in process.

Find out more

How to apply

Applications for this project will open in Autumn 2025 for September 2026 entry.

Interviews will be held online with an interview panel comprising of project supervisory team members from the host university where the project is based.  Where the project involves external supervisors from university partners or industry sponsors then representatives from these partners may form part of the interview panel and your supplementary application form will be shared with them (with the guaranteed interview scheme section removed).

If you have any queries about this project, please contact Dr Andrew Want: a.want@hull.ac.uk 

You may also address queries about the CDT to auracdt@hull.ac.uk.

References & Further Reading 

-Strang-Moran, C. and Mountassir, O.E. (2018). Offshore wind subsea power cables: installation, operation, and market trends, ORE Catapult-Marty, A., Berhault, C., Damblans, G., Facq, J.V., Gaurier, B., Germain, G., Soulard, T. and Schoefs, F., 2021. Experimental study of hard marine growth effect on the hydrodynamical behaviour of a submarine cable. Applied Ocean Research, 114, p.102810. 

-Taormina, B., Bald, J., Want, A., Thouzeau, G., Lejart, M., Desroy, N. and Carlier, A. (2018). A review of potential impacts of submarine power cables on the marine environment: knowledge gaps, recommendations and future directions. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 96: 380-391.  

-Want, A., Crawford, R., Harris, R.E., Kakkonen, J., Kiddie, G., Miller, S. and Porter, J.S. (2017). Biodiversity characterisation and hydrodynamic consequences of marine fouling communities on marine renewable energy infrastructure in the Orkney Islands Archipelago, Scotland, UK. Biofouling DOI: 10.1080/08927014.2017.1336229  

-Want, A., Bell, M. C., Harris, R. E., Hull, M. Q., Long, C. R., & Porter, J. S. (2021). Sea-trial verification of a novel system for monitoring biofouling and testing anti-fouling coatings in highly energetic environments targeted by the marine renewable energy industry. Biofouling, 37(4), 433-451. 

-Want, A., Goubard, A.  Jonveaux, S.J., Leaver, D. and Bell, M.C. (2023). Key biofouling organisms in tidal habitats targeted by the off-shore renewable energy sector in the North Atlantic include the massive barnacle Chirona hameri. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering 11:11, 2168. 

-Yang, S.H., Ringsberg, J.W., Johnson, E. and Hu, Z., 2017. Biofouling on mooring lines and power cables used in wave energy converter systems Analysis of fatigue life and energy performance. Applied Ocean Research, 65, pp.166- 177.