HR Wallingford in the UK has announced that it is participating in a groundbreaking research and development project - the Ripples DRI programme - which is funded by the Office of Naval Research in the US.
The new Katamaran-Reederei Bodensee in Friedrichshafen ordered the 7.6m wide aluminium cats. They were built side by side under cover at the Bodan-Werft in Kressbronn, which won the tender for the contract along with Damen Shipyards in Holland in 2004. Sections of the hull were manufactured and delivered from Singapore, the owner revealed.
HR Wallingford scientists Professor Richard Soulsby and Dr Richard Whitehouse are primarily responsible for the work the main aim of which is to develop a generic predictor for the size and extent and type of ripples on the seabed, and how these are affected by sediment characteristics and water depth.
The research brings the knowledge of marine sediment transport bedform prediction, and progress is being made through data mining and interpretation of existing data, to underpin the ongoing collection of specific sediment-acoustic data within the ONR programmes.
