Professor Chris Swan , Professor of Hydrodynamics and Head of Fluid Mechanics Section at Imperial College London, presents this Inaugural Lecture on; ”Freak Waves: fact or fiction”
In the Chair: Professor David Nethercot OBE , Head of Department, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Vote of thanks: Professor PK Stansby, Professor of Hydrodynamics, School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, University of Manchester
Abstract:Surface water waves are an important, perhaps dominant, feature of all marine environments, appropriate to both deep-water offshore and shallow-water coastal locations. Their description forms the basis of numerous environmental models and the loads they impart dictate the design and safe operation of all manner of marine structures and vessels. Within severe storms, the occurrence of extreme waves has long been recognised and our ability (or inability) to model them the subject of much research. In recent years attention has been focused on the largest of these extremes; the occurrence of so-called freak or rogue waves representing events that lie outside accepted statistical predictions.
The lecture will consider these events, will provide an explanation for their occurrence and, in so doing, will highlight those sea states in which they are most likely to occur. In addressing these issues, extreme wave-structure and wave-vessel interactions will also be considered. Evidence of new and, as yet, unexplained mechanisms leading to unexpected loads, further local increases in the maximum surface elevation and, above all, the occurrence of wave impacts and green water inundation will be provided. To conclude, the latest modelling techniques will be explored and their research potential assessed.
Biography: Chris Swan graduated from Imperial College with a BSc in Civil Engineering in 1983. After a short period in industry he returned to full-time study with a Trinity College Research Scholarship working in the Engineering Department of Cambridge University. His PhD on nonlinear wave mechanics was completed in 1987. The award of the Angus Memorial Research Fellowship at Sidney Sussex College allowed the continuation of his work within the Cambridge University Engineering Department. In 1989 he was appointed to a lectureship in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at Imperial College; promoted to Reader in 1998 and made Head of the Fluid Mechanics Section shortly thereafter.
His main research interests continue to be wave related and include their interaction with co-existing currents, the overlying air-flow, buoyant jets and a variety of fixed and floating structures; the emphasis of the latter being the calculation of fluid loads, the possible onset of dynamic response and the occurrence of wave impacts. Across this work, improved physical understanding has been achieved using a combination of detailed laboratory observations and advanced numerical modelling. He has published over 70 technical papers, been the lead investigator on numerous research grants and projects and has successfully supervised 17 PhD students. In recent years he has also overseen the creation of a new hydrodynamics laboratory with unrivalled research facilities and participated in a number of high-profile joint-industry projects.
A pre lecture reception from 16.45 Hydrodynamics Laboratory, Level 0, Skempton Building, South Kensington Campus
A drinks reception will follow the lecture