Bristol-based engineering design and product development services provider Blackfish has won a contract to supply a lifting platform for the University of Southampton’s new wave tank facility.
Under the contract, Blackfish will design, manufacture, install and commission a lifting platform in the Boldrewood wave tank.
The 138-meter-long towing tank, with the depth of 3.5 meters and width of 6 meters, will be used to investigate the power requirements of high speed vessels, assess safe limits in extreme waves, study marine renewables, examine the fluid-structure interaction of moorings for offshore structures and study the energy efficiency of hull designs, according to the University of Southampton.
The lifting platform, to be supplied by Blackfish, will be used to lift test models in and out of the water as well as providing a point on which devices can be moored, the company said.
Moored devices may be on the surface for testing in waves, such as ships and wave energy devices, or they could be lower in the water column such as submarines or submerged wave energy devices, according to Blackfish.
“The Blackfish team are thoroughly looking forward to another design and make project due to the gratification we get from seeing a project go all the way from a concept on a computer screen, to an installed piece of hardware, working as the customer desires,” Blackfish said.