HR Wallingford is testing scour protection systems that will be used at ScottishPower Renewables’ 714MW East Anglia 1 offshore wind farm off the UK’s Suffolk coast.
Physical modelling is taking place at HR Wallingford’s fast flow facility to test the scour development and the performance of a frond mat scour protection system that will protect the jacket piles at the project.
The tests take into account the foundation design, the seabed characteristics and metocean conditions, the company said.
The fast flow facility is 75 metres long and eight metres wide and can hold 1 million litres of water, generate waves up to one metre high and flows of over two metres per second, it added.
HR Wallingford said it is simulating three full tidal cycles – including both flood and ebb tides – as well as storm conditions.
HR Wallingford business development manager renewables Samantha Dawson said: “At HR Wallingford we have an active programme of research in the prediction and analysis of scour around marine structures, with world class modelling facilities, including the fast flow facility.
“This gives us a controlled environment in which to evaluate and select the best-performing scour protection systems for a specific site, like EA 1, and the conditions in which it operates.”
Image: reNEWS
