A tool for simulating collision probabilities of animals with marine renewable energy devices

PLoS One. 2017 Nov 29;12(11):e0188780. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0188780. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

The mathematical problem of establishing a collision probability distribution is often not trivial. The shape and motion of the animal as well as of the the device must be evaluated in a four-dimensional space (3D motion over time). Earlier work on wind and tidal turbines was limited to a simplified two-dimensional representation, which cannot be applied to many new structures. We present a numerical algorithm to obtain such probability distributions using transient, three-dimensional numerical simulations. The method is demonstrated using a sub-surface tidal kite as an example. Necessary pre- and post-processing of the data created by the model is explained, numerical details and potential issues and limitations in the application of resulting probability distributions are highlighted.

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms
  • Animals
  • Models, Theoretical*
  • Renewable Energy*
  • Seawater*

Grants and funding

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 (https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/) research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 654438, and from the Swedish Energy Agency under grant number 42233-1(http://www.energimyndigheten.se/en/). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.