Danesh Tafti, the William S. Cross Professor in Mechanical Engineering, is bringing his expertise in the dynamics of ocean waves to an NSF-funded project led by colleagues from the University of Michigan.

Ocean waves represent a potential gold mine for energy, but there is a need for technology capable of collecting it. To advance the progress of that technology, a project led by Lei Zuo, the Herbert C. Sadler Collegiate Professor of Engineering at the University of Michigan, has been funded with $3.6 million from the National Science Foundation. Researchers from five different institutions are contributing their talents, with direct input from coastal communities such as Beaver Island, Michigan, and Nags Head, North Carolina.

“As researchers, we often think that communities are only recipients of our research. But coastal communities often know more about what is happening locally on the coast and about what is likely to work for their communities,” said Eric Wade, assistant professor of coastal studies at East Carolina, in the press release.

Tafti’s contributions to the project will be to investigate the hydrodynamic dynamic response of the wave energy capture device for harvesting power to interface with the design of the power takeoff unit and control mechanisms for maximizing power output.

In addition to Tafti, Zuo, and Wade, other team members include:

  • Daniel Deng, University of Michigan adjunct professor of naval architecture and marine engineering and laboratory fellow at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
  • Lindsay  Dubbs, University of North Carolina’s Institute for the Environment.
  • Gail Gruenwald, a member of the Beaver Island Association.
  • Jeff Scruggs, Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Michigan.
  • Bill Staby, founder of Blue Water Network LLC.

“This is truly science and engineering for societal wellbeing,” said Tafti. “This is the first time that technology, local economics, and social science comes together in designing a wave energy capture device. I hope to see the prototypes built and tested by the team effort come together for use by the remote coastal communities that we plan to work with.”