Ross Vennell
I work in a range of areas spanning theoretical and observational coastal oceanography, with a particular focus on the physics of tidal channels. PhD scholarships are available for academically well qualified students to work with me in any of these areas.
Current interests centre around tidal stream power generation. In particular looking at how to estimate power generation from large arrays of turbines when gaps are required between turbines to allow navigation along the channel. The strong interaction between power extraction and the strength of the currents along the entire channel makes this a complex and fun area to work on! So far papers have focused on how to optimise the tuning and arrangement of the turbines within a channel.
Observational research has centred around using Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers to make high horizontal resolution measurements of the spatial patterns of tidal currents, achieving 50m resolution is some areas. The measurements have been used to better understanding the physics of tidal flows on sub-kilometre scales. For example making high resolution measures of curvature induced secondary flows, or inferring the free-surface displacement from current measurements within a 500m square area at a harbour entrance. Along with this has been work to develop specialised spatial interpolators which improve fits to velocity data by imposing mass continuity on the interpolation using Radial Basis Functions. Graduate students I work with have research in these and other areas, such as remote sensing of ocean fronts, or the physics of human swimming.
Other theoretical works have turned up new examples of resonance. These are associated with the forced ocean wave beneath storms, or fast moving pressure fronts, being reflected off the coast or continental slope. The resonances can occur for disturbances moving slower than the shallow water wave speed. They arise because the angle at which the ocean wave is reflected by the topography is not the same as the incident angle the forced wave, with the two angles related by a Snell like refraction law, but applied to reflection. The work has applications to understanding storm surge and also to meteotsunami events which can produce surges of up to 4m in some locations.
Current interests centre around tidal stream power generation. In particular looking at how to estimate power generation from large arrays of turbines when gaps are required between turbines to allow navigation along the channel. The strong interaction between power extraction and the strength of the currents along the entire channel makes this a complex and fun area to work on! So far papers have focused on how to optimise the tuning and arrangement of the turbines within a channel.
Observational research has centred around using Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers to make high horizontal resolution measurements of the spatial patterns of tidal currents, achieving 50m resolution is some areas. The measurements have been used to better understanding the physics of tidal flows on sub-kilometre scales. For example making high resolution measures of curvature induced secondary flows, or inferring the free-surface displacement from current measurements within a 500m square area at a harbour entrance. Along with this has been work to develop specialised spatial interpolators which improve fits to velocity data by imposing mass continuity on the interpolation using Radial Basis Functions. Graduate students I work with have research in these and other areas, such as remote sensing of ocean fronts, or the physics of human swimming.
Other theoretical works have turned up new examples of resonance. These are associated with the forced ocean wave beneath storms, or fast moving pressure fronts, being reflected off the coast or continental slope. The resonances can occur for disturbances moving slower than the shallow water wave speed. They arise because the angle at which the ocean wave is reflected by the topography is not the same as the incident angle the forced wave, with the two angles related by a Snell like refraction law, but applied to reflection. The work has applications to understanding storm surge and also to meteotsunami events which can produce surges of up to 4m in some locations.
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