Specific skills in the MRE field

Principia has been working on offshore projects for 30 years for mooring design, floaters motion and installation analyses, subsea cable and structure design. Taking advantage of this experience developed for the Oil & Gas industry, PRINCIPIA provides engineering support to the main actors of the marine renewable sector to address this challenging domain at the crossroad of different cultures.

Principia develops also commercial software and is adapting its products to the renewable market by proposing specific products for floating wind turbine (DeepLines Wind) and coupling its different software (DIODORE – Hydrodynamic, NSO – structure, EOLE – CFD) to answer the specificities of wind and tidal turbines.

The main focus of Principia is the design of marine renewable system from a structural and mechanical point of view by assessing the fully coupled dynamic response of such system under aerodynamic and hydrodynamic loadings.

Offshore Wind Turbine

Aware of the engineering practice in offshore for mooring and sea keeping analyses, dynamic power cable design, advanced structural analyses and installation studies, PRINCIPIA has been supporting the success of offshore wind turbine projects since the start of the development of this activity.

This success of providing best engineering practice to main actors in the offshore wind turbine industry is mainly driven by our capabilities to accurately assess the fully coupled dynamic response of any fixed or floating wind turbine using our integrated commercial software DeepLines WIND, jointly developed with IFPEN, including all the key components of the system in a single FE model to account for the combination of hydro and aerodynamic loadings, i.e.:

  • Floating system or foundation (Monopile or Jacket)
  • Wind turbine including control system
  • Mooring lines
  • Subsea Cable
  • Anchoring System including non-linear responses

PRINCIPIA is currently involved in the design of several WT floaters at conceptual, basic or detail design stage.

Tidal Energy Converter (TEC)

PRINCIPIA provides engineering support for the design of tidal turbines system to the main actors in this industry, including the following range of activities:

  • Detailed structural analysis of subsea structure
  • Geotechnical foundation / monopile study
  • CFD analysis (blade load assessment / influence of current and wave combined action)
  • Characterization of turbulence intensity and power generation
  • Fully coupled dynamic analysis for floating TEC system including the turbine and associated control system
  • Subsea cable design
  • Transport and installation Analysis

Our integrated tool “DeepLines WIND” initially dedicated to wind turbine may also be used for floating tidal turbines in order to performed coupled analyses.

Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC)

Offshore OTEC systems require large floating units to be moored in deep waters with long water intake risers. PRINCIPIA has a long experience in the design of such systems for the Oil&Gas industry at every stage of a project (conceptual, basic or detail).

For Onshore OTEC or SWAC (sea water air conditioning) systems, PRINCIPIA can support any actors on this sector by covering the full engineering scope of work for HDPE pipelines including:

  • HDPE pipe sizing
  • Routing Study
  • Installation analysis
  • On-bottom stability study including extra stabilization design
  • Axial stability including anchoring system design
  • HDD & trenching design for shore approach
  • Flow assurance study

Products or services in MRE

Engineering capabilities rely on strong core expertise in numerical simulation and analysis both for structures (linear and nonlinear) and fluid (CFD, hydrodynamics) behavior with performance qualification compliant to relevant standards and rules such as API, DNV, BV, RCC-M, RCC-MR, RCC-MRX, ETCC-C, CODAP, ….

PRINCIPIA uses recognized products such as ANSYS, ABAQUS, LS-DYNA, NX, PERMAS, FLUENT, STAR-CCM+, FLOWMASTER.

PRINCIPIA is also software editor for offshore engineering : DEEPLINES, DIODORE, NSO/ISYMOST.

Projects in MRE

  • Fixed Wind Turbine: WALNEY / BLIGH BANK / FIRTH OF FORTH / FAR-SHORE / QWYNT Y MOR / ANHOLT / THANET / GREATER GABBARD / BORKUM RIFFGRUND / ST NAZAIRE / BORKUM WEST II / SYLWIN / GODEWIND
  • Floating Wind Turbine: HYWIND PILOT PARK / SEMREV / MISTRAL / SEAREED ATLANTIC / PGL / DOUNREAY TRI OWF
  • Wave Energy Converter: SEAREV / AWS Ocean Energy
  • Tidal Energy Converter: PAIMPOL BREHAT / NORMANDIE HYDRO