Routines for Learning Modeling Practices and Content

The authors share a teacher-designed mathematical modeling routine geared to support teachers and to leverage opportunities for their students in learning important modeling practices and mathematical content.

A New Science for Future

Building on concepts from Science & Technology Studies, Simon David Hirsbrunner investigates practices and infrastructures of computer modeling and science communication in climate impact research. The book characterizes how scientists calculate future climate risks in computer models and scenarios, but also how they circulate their insights and make them accessible and comprehensible to others. By discussing elements such as infrastructures, visualizations, models, software and data, the chapters show how computational modeling practices are currently changing in light of digital transformations and expectations for an open science. A number of inventive research devices are proposed to capture both the fluidity and viscosity of contemporary digital technology.

Physical Modeling and Simplification of FPSO Topsides Module in Wind Tunnel Model Tests

To evaluate wind load on offshore structures, such as FPSO’s, wind tunnel model test is a common industry practice. Configuration of topsides structures and equipment can be very complex, and it is a practical challenge to model all the structural details for wind tunnel model tests. Sometimes, there may be significant modifications to the topsides over FPSO operation life cycle and there may not be detailed topsides drawing for wind tunnel to use in physical model construction. In practice, wind tunnel laboratories have to simplify physical topsides models. They also use metal meshes to cover the topsides modules to compensate for the force reduction due to the simplification. In order to help establish physical modeling practices of wind tunnel model test, we performed extensive tests using a single topsides module. The original topsides module without simplification and mesh was tested first. Then, two simplifications were adopted in the physical model construction. The module was covered with and without metal mesh of different porosities. Thorough test quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) were performed to ensure data quality. Test setup, quality assurance (QA) and results are presented in the paper. The results can be used not only for appropriate physical modeling practices of complex topsides modules, but also for validation of numerical predictions such as Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), as well as empirical formulas.

Qualification Criteria and the Verification of Numerical Waves: Part 2: CFD-Based Numerical Wave Tank

There is increasing interest in numerical wave simulations as a tool to design offshore structures, especially for the prediction of stochastic nonlinear wave loads like those related to air-gap and wave impact. Though the simulations cannot replace all experiments, they are now competitive on some topics such as the computations of wind and current coefficients. To proceed further it is necessary to improve the procedure to account for another complex environmental factor, wave motion. This paper addresses an industrial collaboration to develop modeling practices and qualification criteria of CFD-based numerical wave tank for offshore applications. As a part of the effort to develop reliable numerical wave modeling practices in the framework of the “Reproducible Offshore CFD JIP”, qualification criteria are formulated for the wave solutions generated from either potential-flow based codes in Part 1 of this work. Part 2 presents first a set of solutions for forcing the qualified waves obtained with the potential codes in the CFD domain. Those solutions follow a set of coupling protocols previously proposed in the JIP framework. Two potential codes and two CFD solvers are combined, so that four possible methods of generating waves and modalities are described. Two different potential models are considered, one using the higher order spectral method for numerical wave tank (HOS-NWT), and another using the finite-element method in the horizontal direction and a modal expansion after a sigma transform in the vertical direction (solver is called TPNWT). Both are equipped with a breaking model to generate extreme sea states. The two CFD solvers tested are Simcenter STAR-CCM+ and OpenFOAM. Simulation setups are proposed for both software. Simulation results from eight academic or industrial partners are presented for two sets of 2D test cases in deep water, one with regular waves and one with irregular waves, both with one very steep condition (ratio of wave height over wavelength of 10% for regular waves and 1000 year return period for Gulf of Mexico for irregular waves). The irregular waves are simulated for 10 sets of 3 hours to apply a stochastic approach to verify the quality of the waves generated in the numerical domain. Attention is given to the wave spectrum and the ensemble probability of the crest distribution, both obtained from the wave elevation at the center of the domain.

Navigating Potential Hype and Opportunity in Governing Marine Carbon Removal

As the technical and political challenges of land-based carbon dioxide removal (CDR) approaches become more apparent, the oceans may be the new “blue” frontier for carbon drawdown strategies in climate governance. Drawing on lessons learnt from the way terrestrial carbon dioxide removal emerged, we explore increasing overall attention to marine environments and mCDR projects, and how this could manifest in four entwined knowledge systems and governance sectors. We consider how developments within and between these “frontiers” could result in different futures—where hype and over-promising around marine carbon drawdown could enable continued time-buying for the carbon economy without providing significant removals, or where reforms to modeling practices, policy development, innovation funding, and legal governance could seek co-benefits between ocean protection, economy, and climate.