Left in the wake: assessing the impact of sediment mobility in the wake of offshore wind infrastructure

This PhD scholarship is offered by the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Offshore Wind Energy Sustainability and Resilience; a partnership between the Universities of Durham, Hull, Loughborough and Sheffield. The project is sponsored by industry partner, The Turbidites Research Group (TRG). The successful applicant will undertake six-months of training with the rest of the CDT cohort at the University of Hull before continuing their PhD research at Loughborough University.

Offshore wind is a core component of global solutions to net-zero. The increasing demand for renewable energy is driving the installation of larger offshore infrastructure at greater geographical extents, including into more morphodynamically active regions (e.g., the shallow southern Northern Sea).

Bottom-mounted offshore wind infrastructure increases bed scour and enhances vertical mixing, resulting in elevated suspended sediment concentration (water turbidity) and the generation of sediment plumes. Understanding the distribution and intensity of sediment plumes is critical given the impact of water turbidity on marine ecosystem functions (e.g. May et al., 2003; Ortega et al., 2020). Hence, there is a need to understand the physical processes that enable the extent and concentration of these plumes around man-made infrastructure (e.g. monopiles, cables, bridges and geofluid extraction infrastructure).

Offshore sediment plumes are visible from space and trace the turbulent wakes in the lee of offshore wind infrastructure (Bailey et al. 2024). Research to date has focused on field studies and remote observations to reveal sediment wake distributions and concentrations (Vanhellmont & Ruddick, 2014; Bailey et al., 2024). These have evidenced that sediment from the seabed is drawn upwards from tidal flow interactions with sea-bed infrastructure through complex fluid-structure interactions. It is hypothesised that the size of these wakes scales with the number of wind farm structures (van der Molen et al., 2014). However, the scale of observed sediment plumes is several kilometres; much larger than the expected length scales over which coherent wakes may be expected to persist. Critically, there is a poor understanding of the fundamental physics, including plume buoyancy as a control on 3D flow dynamics, associated with sediment transport dynamics in the lee of offshore wind infrastructure and other seafloor obstacles. Improving our understanding of these processes is complicated by their multi-scale nature and the simplifications made within current models.

This project will develop novel methods and data to enable advanced predictions of the spatial and temporal distribution and turbidity of the sediment plumes around offshore wind infrastructure via:

1. Physical modelling experiments to resolve particle transport processes around fixed bottom offshore wind foundations,
2. Computational fluid dynamics modelling based on Lattice Boltzmann (LB) framework to simulate sediment transport surrounding offshore infrastructure (working with industry partners TRG). The LB framework is uniquely capable of performing highly scalable, high-accuracy simulations of buoyancy-driven flows at a large scale (Adekanye et al., 2022).

The project has some flexibility to complement the candidate’s expertise and desired skills development in fluid and sediment dynamics. There is potential to incorporate remote sensing of sediment plume distributions and correlation with infrastructure and hydroclimate conditions.

Project partner TRG (The Turbidites Research Group) is a Joint Industry Project run for over 30 years from the University of Leeds. It has specialised in academic-industry knowledge exchange, research and innovation on deep water sediment laden density driven flows with the global energy industry. Through the TRG (subject to contract), the student will have the opportunity to engage with a wide range of research and industry partners, including through biannual (international) workshops.

Application details

Please note, you may only apply for ONE project offered through the EPSRC CDT in Offshore Wind Energy Sustainability and Resilience.

Please ensure that you familiarise yourself with the CDT website before you apply. The Frequently asked questions page and Candidate resources page are essential reading prior to applying.

As part of the recruitment process, we ask that you submit a short film of you delivering a presentation, of up to 5 minutes in length, on “How do your experiences and qualities provide a background to contribute to research and innovation for the project you have applied for”.

We also ask that you complete a Supplementary Application Form. This includes space for you to provide a link where the shortlisting panel may view your film.

Full application guidance including access to the supplementary application form is provided here Left in the wake: assessing the impact of sediment mobility in the wake of offshore wind infrastructure - Aura Centre for Doctoral Training

With your application, you need to upload copies of the following supporting evidence:

• Complete transcripts (and final degree certificate(s) where possible). If your qualification documents are not in English, you will need to supply copies of your original language documents as well as their official translation into English.
• Your Curriculum Vitae (CV).
• A completed Supplementary Application Form (upload when asked to add a Research proposal).

Uploading the form

When you have completed the form, please save it as a pdf format and labelled as follows:

Last name_first name PhD application form

Upload the form as part of your application documents through the Loughborough University student application portal.The Supplementary Form replaces the Research Proposal and so you do not need to add a Research Proposal. Please do not send your form directly to the Offshore Wind CDT.