Corporate News

Aquaterra assist aspiring engineers

Four keen Norwich School students are being led through an engineering project by two of Aquaterra’s Graduate Engineers.

For the third consecutive year, Aquaterra is taking part in the Engineering Education Scheme which gives Year 12 students a valuable insight into the engineering industry.

The chosen candidates all have an interest in an engineering career and have been involved in engineering based challenges. They will each bring a different skill set to the team, to manage the design, planning, co-ordination and implementation of the project.

Aquaterra's Graduate Engineers, Vyron Skaftouros and Glen Tennant will guide the students through the project, meeting every fortnight to offer support and to monitor their progress. They will work with them at the Cambridge University Laboratories in order to produce a prototype model of their proposed concept.  Advice will be offered on how to follow a career in engineering and the different options available.

The selected project is to investigate the ‘Effects of Marine Growth on Drag Loading/Vortex Induced Vibration(VIV) and How to Prevent it’. Vyron and Glen devised the project outline after looking at Aquaterra's Sea Swift platforms which are sensitive to drag loading due to wave and current action. One contributor to increased drag loading is marine growth which effectively increases the drag area of the subsea member.

The Norwich School students will investigate solutions which could include using marine growth preventers that are fitted around the conductors and subsea tubulars. These are lightweight devices that move due a combination of buoyancy and wave, keeping the members relatively marine growth free by their scraping action. The scope could be extended to see if the marine growth preventers could also help in reducing VIV.

The project will conclude in April with an assessment day, followed by a presentation at Aquaterra offices to report how the project progressed and the findings.