Researchers from the University of Wollongong (UOW) will play a crucial role in a new research hub that will employ data and physics-based science to help alter Australia’s offshore energy infrastructure, making it more reliable and cost-effective.
The Transforming Energy Infrastructure via Digital Engineering (TIDE) Research Hub, led by the University of Western Australia (UWA), was officially opened last week in Perth by Australian Research Council (ARC) Deputy Chief Executive Officer Dr Richard Johnson.
It will draw experts from the core fields of oceanography, hydrodynamics, geotechnics, and marine structures at UWA, as well as mathematics, statistics, and data science at UWA and the National Institute for Applied Statistics Research Australia at UOW. It will be held at the UWA Oceans Graduate School.
TIDE is supported by $5 million from the ARC Industrial Transformation Research Program, $5 million from business money, and sizeable in-kind contributions from UWA and UOW.
Dr Johnson highlighted how the TIDE Research Hub has creatively blended talent from research, industry, and business to enable a range of innovations that would decrease costs, improve safety, and lessen environmental consequences while unveiling the program.
“With the Australian energy industry transitioning to long-term operations, research outcomes will inform decision-making processes regarding offshore energy infrastructure, benefiting the Australian economy and attracting ongoing investment in the industry,” Dr Johnson said.
TIDE Director Professor Phillip Watson from UWA stated that offshore energy contributed over $55 billion in gross value to the economy each year and directly employed 100,000 people. Watson added that as the Australian energy industry transitioned to long-term operations, the sector needed to leverage research to lower the cost of future production.
“The hub findings will transform how the industry manages critical energy infrastructure — such as pipelines, structures and vessels — which will result in process improvements that are not only affordable, but safer and more reliable,” Professor Watson added.
UOW team leader Associate Professor Andrew Zammit-Mangion stated that UOW researchers would assist in integrating uncertainty quantification, statistical inference, and artificial intelligence with science-based models, allowing for improved evidence-based decision-making in various offshore engineering applications.
UOW team leader Associate Professor Andrew Zammit-Mangion stated that UOW researchers would assist in integrating uncertainty quantification, statistical inference, and artificial intelligence with science-based models, allowing for improved evidence-based decision-making in various offshore engineering applications.
“Data science is revolutionising the energy sector. This Hub will be the national centre for transforming the way we use data for decision-making in offshore engineering through the fusion of domain expertise and statistical inference,” Associate Professor Zammit-Mangion said.
According to him, TIDE is working to make offshore energy processes more ecologically safe. He added that his personal interest is to make renewable energy processes, notably offshore wind farms, more efficient and inexpensive.
Dr Matt Moores and Dr David Gunawan from NIASRA, which is part of the School of Mathematics and Applied Statistics at the Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences, are also helping with the study.
The Australian Bureau of Meteorology and the Australian Institute of Marine Science are among the Australian research partners.
Researchers and scientists from Lancaster University, the University of Texas, the University of Oxford, the Technology Centre for Offshore and Marine Singapore, the University of Southampton, HR Wallingford, Virginia Tech, SolidGround, and the Alan Turing Institute are among the international collaborators.
Meanwhile, the industry partners are Woodside, Shell, INPEX, Lloyd’s Register Group, Bureau Veritas, Fugro, Qeye, RPS, and Wood.
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