The challenge
Wave power has long been considered as one of the most promising renewable energy sources. Wave Energy Converters (WECs) convert wave power into electricity.
In 2017 Wave Energy Scotland commissioned Arup to conduct research into the use of concrete in the production of these devices. The Concrete as a Technology Enabler (CREATE) project aims to demonstrate the potential of concrete to enable cost reduction in Wave Energy Converters (WECs). Reinforced concrete has a lower unit cost and superior durability compared to steel in the offshore environment. Concrete is also a well understood material and can take advantage of a mature supply chain.
Arup developed specialist knowledge on the design of floating concrete devices. The challenge in stage 3 was to find the most useful way to make this knowledge available, so that developers can make a stronger business case for concrete Wave Energy Converters (WECs).
The tool
Arup Convex (Concrete Viability Explorer) is a decision-making tool, which allows developers to explore the use of concrete in their WEC designs.
The user can input the design parameters of their steel device and compare steel and concrete in terms of technical feasibility and CapEx cost. As well as getting an understanding of the construction, installation and site selection implications of using concrete.
︎︎︎User research
︎︎︎User interviews ︎︎︎Insight synthesis
︎︎︎User experience design
︎︎︎User testing
︎︎︎User interviews ︎︎︎Insight synthesis
︎︎︎User experience design
︎︎︎User testing
My role
As part of a multidisciplinary team at Arup, I worked closely with Arup engineers and software developers to research and design the tool.
I led the team through discovery activities to understand the current WEC developer workflow, focusing on how and when they choose materials, in order to deliver a tool that responds to their needs.
The challenge was to structure the tool in a way that gave WEC developers a solid starting point for considering concrete early in the design process.
We interviewed potential users, gathered user needs and synthesised findings in a report which we took back to WEC developers for feedback. Based on these insights we created user flows and wireframes of the user interface, which we then prototyped and tested with WEC developers.
“Having pre-filled parameters
is very valuable”.
Carnegie - WEC developers
Impact
Convex is now live and available to WEC developers as an open source tool. The developers we spoke to said the value of the tool is the knowledge behind the default values. They emphasised that having typical rates, thicknesses and volumes is very useful. Often they don’t have this sort of information to hand.