Maritime Energy
Renewable energies offer an answer to the challenges of climate change and the decline in fossil fuels. The use of energy in the area of coast and sea has great potential for sustainable energy supply. Offshore wind turbines, wave energy converters and tidal power plants, which have to be either floating or statically anchored to the sea floor, offer sustainable solutions, but at the same time represent major challenges. Laboratory tests can illuminate these challenges and give answer to the resulting questions, such as the forces to which the structures are exposed.
Coastal protection structures
Large parts of the world population live in coastal areas, and the coast has always been a centre of attraction for tourism and recreation, as well as for industry and agriculture. Coastal protection structures are therefore not only used to prevent coastal erosion and decline, but above all to protect the land behind, its infrastructure, and especially the people living there, from flooding and storm surge damage. In addition to their purely protective function, current research has recently concentrated increasingly on the sustainability and environmental compatibility of coastal protection structures. In particular, so called soft coastal protection measures are being sought.
Ecohydraulics
Especially in the tidal area along the coast, interactions between biota (plants and animals) and waves or currents occur, which manifest themselves in a dampening of wave energy, a change in the direction of flow or in effects on sediment transport and erosion. But also viewed the other way around, changes in the sediment budget can affect the settlement or preservation of plants and animals. In the research area of ecohydraulics the services of these so called ecosystem engineers are examined as well as their capability to be used for coastal protection and integrated into soft coastal protection measures.
Sediment transport
In order to be able to sustainably control the natural erosion of sandy coasts and dunes and to plan soft coastal protection measures, an understanding of the wave-induced sediment transport and its underlying physical processes is essential. In doing so, the coastal cross and long shore sediment transport are considered as well as the influence of structures such as groynes or offshore wind turbines on the sediment transport and budget. Using a combination of large-scale model tests and numerical simulations, this research field examines measures such as shore nourishment or the use of geotextiles for dune stabilisation or to counteract scour formation in the offshore area.
The large-scale experiments carried out in the CRC's Large Wave Flume are diverse and often deal with topics that are becoming increasingly important due to climate change and rising sea levels. To give you a small impression, we have put together a selection of videos and pictures for you. You will also find a list of projects that have been carried out at the LWF here and below.