There is some interesting stuff in the COFS 2013 Annual Report....

There is some interesting stuff in the COFS 2013 Annual Report.

http://www.cofs.uwa.edu.au/__data/a...3-COFS-annual-report-up-to-industry-links.pdf

"Offshore renewable energy Offshore renewable energy is expected to become a $200+ billion annual market by 2020 and COFS aims to become a major actor in research and design of foundation systems for offshore renewable energy, both fixed and floating. Foundation engineering is a critical aspect of offshore renewable energy development, considering that the cost of foundation can reach up to 35% of the cost of the device. Optimisation of foundation systems is perceived as being major element to facilitate widespread usage of the technology.

To that purpose, COFS is actively engaging with many stakeholders in the field, both from industry and academia. A research agreement has been signed with Carnegie Wave Energy to optimise foundation design for their CETO5 and CETO6 buoyancy actuator, notably investigating performance degradation over millions of tensile load cycles changing in direction. A PhD student, co-supervised with Carnegie Wave Energy has been recruited and physical and numerical modellings are being planned for 2014 to predict the performance of the grouted pile foundation of their CETO5 prototype being installed 3 km offshore Garden Island in Western Australia.

COFS is currently collaborating with Pelamis Wave Power, Seaflex, Deep Sea Anchors, the University of Dundee (Scotland) and University College of Cork (Ireland) within the European Programme GEOWAVE to qualify an economical torpedo type anchor developed by Deep Sea Anchors as catenary mooring systems for the Pelamis wave energy converter. The physical modelling part of the project is being undertaken at COFS, mobilising two academics and one full-time post-doc."

I am not sure if there is a place for mobile foundations in wave, maybe there is?

"Mobile foundations for subsea infrastructure Increasing demands on subsea infrastructure coupled with soft seabed conditions in deep water are resulting in the size and weight of subsea shallow foundations exceeding capabilities of conventional installation vessels.

One innovation to reduce foundation footprints involves designing foundations to move tolerably to absorb applied load rather than being engineered to resist all applied loads and remain stationary (image 2).

New research at COFS is investigating mat foundations that are designed to move tolerably across the seabed under applied loading, resulting from thermal expansion of connected pipelines.

The study addresses the potential of tolerable foundation mobility to reduce foundation footprints – i.e. foundations that are designed to move tolerably and relieve some of the applied loads rather than being sufficiently large to resist all loading.

The design challenge is to engineer a foundation that can undergo controlled and limited sliding across the seabed to relieve the applied loads, whilst not damaging the connection points through unwanted rotation or settlement."