Monitoring the condition of Marine Renewable Energy Devices through underwater Acoustic Emissions: Case study of a Wave Energy Converter in Falmouth Bay, UK

Jodi Walsh, Imran Bashir (), Joanne K. Garrett, Philipp R. Thies, Philippe Blondel and Lars Johanning

Renewable Energy, 2017, vol. 102, issue PA, 205-213

Abstract: Maintaining the engineering health of Marine Renewable Energy Devices (MREDs) is one of the main limits to their economic viability, because of the requirement for costly marine interventions in challenging conditions. Acoustic Emission (AE) condition monitoring is routinely and successfully used for land-based devices, and this paper shows how it can be used underwater. We review the acoustic signatures expected from operation and likely failure modes of MREDs, providing a basis for a generic classification system. This is illustrated with a Wave Energy Converter tested at Falmouth Bay (UK), monitored for 2 years. Underwater noise levels have been measured between 10 Hz and 32 kHz throughout this time, covering operational and inactive periods. Broadband MRED contributions to ambient noise are generally negligible. Time-frequency analyses are used to detect acoustic signatures (60 Hz–5 kHz) of specific operational activities, such as the active Power Take Off, and relate them to engineering and environmental conditions. These first results demonstrate the feasibility of using underwater Acoustic Emissions to monitor the health and performance of MREDs.

Keywords: Underwater acoustics; Acoustic Emission; Condition monitoring; Health monitoring; Marine Renewable Energy; Wave Energy Converter (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148116309144
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:102:y:2017:i:pa:p:205-213

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2016.10.049

Access Statistics for this article

Renewable Energy is currently edited by Soteris A. Kalogirou and Paul Christodoulides

More articles in Renewable Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().