Preliminary Investigation for Feasibility of Wave Energy Converters and the Surrounding Sea as Test-site for Marine Equipment

Abstract

Of late, demand for test sites for marine equipment such as ASV, AUV, ROV, and various underwater sensors is increasing. The authors have focused on an oscillating water column (OWC), which is being constructed near Chagwido Island Jeju, as one of the test-sites. The main objective of the OWC is to produce wave energy and develop technologies. It has been built in the sea approximately 1 km off the coast. It has berth accommodation and some rooms that can be used as laboratories. To investigate the feasibility of its usage as a test site for marine equipment, we acquired bathymetric data around the OWC by using a multi-beam echo sounder and a single-beam scanning sonar. The accessibility of the OWC from nearby ports and the use of support vessels or ships were also investigated. 3D point cloud data from the multi-beam echo sounder and 2D acoustic images from the scanning sonar are expected to be used as references for identifying changes over time. In addition, through these experiments, we derived a procedure to use this facility as a test site by using the IDEF0 functional modelling method. Based on this preliminary investigation and previously reported examples, we determined the general conditions and preferences for evaluating the performance of various marine equipment heuristically. Finally, we developed five applications that were derived from this investigation.