The New COAST Laboratory of Plymouth University: a World-Class Facility for Marine Energy

Abstract

During the development of coastal, ocean engineering and marine renewables technology, physical modelling must be undertaken. The new COAST laboratory at Plymouth University comprises two wave basins and two wave flumes that can all produce waves and currents together. Initial commissioning experiments of the facilities show that the design specifications were met in the majority of cases or exceeded. Despite the newness of the laboratory, experiments to investigate the motion response of a wave energy converter and to investigate wave impacts on moored structures have been undertaken in collaboration with both universities and commercial clients.