Focus of Fortnight, Ideas for Research

Research Idea of this fortnight : Selection of Suitable Wave Converters for Shoreline Protection by Multi-Criteria Decision Making Method

Leave a comment

Idea for doing research : Selection of Suitable Wave Converters for Shoreline Protection by Multi-Criteria Decision Making Method

Keywords : wave energy,multi criteria decision making methods,renewable energy,shore line protection

For whom ? Electrical, Mechanical and Civil Engineering scholars and PG students

Scientific Benefit : The uncontrolled extraction of natural resources and un-regulated utilization of coastal zones for commercial purposes have induced erosive action which has reduced the area of coastal zones in many parts of the World.In this aspect protection of shoreline is an important objective to achieve for the sustenance of the coastal zones and to maintain the ecosystem. On the other hand, due to the rising demand for energy and limited availability of conventional fuel resources, has increased the demand for supply of energy from renewable and alternative sources of energy.That is why,if on-shore wave converters which is used for conversion of wave energy to electrical energy, can be installed in the coastal areas, then these converters can be used for both protection of shoreline and producing energy. Such procedures are now implemented in few coastal regions but the selection of suitable wave converters and the ideal location where they can be installed for maximum utilization is limiting the benefit that can be achieved from such projects. Subjective selection of converters or location will result in less than desired level of protection and  production of energy. It will also increase the investment required for installation and operation of such arrangements. Thus research projects can be undertaken to solve this problem by utilizing objective techniques like Multi Criteria Decision Making(MCDM).

Brief Methodology : The multi criteria decision making processes requires a set of alternatives or options from which one has to be selected as the answer to the decision making problem. A set of criteria is also required by which the alternatives are compared and rated with the help of a scale and then based on the selected MCDM method, aggregated value of the ratings were calculated. The option with the maximum aggregated value (also known as : weight of significance/priority value), will be selected as the answer to the decision making problem.

In case of wave converter selection for shoreline protection and energy production on a particular location, some criteria has to be identified by which the available alternatives can be compared. As the objective of the present investigation is to select a converter which can be used on that location for maximum protection and production of energy from the waves,due to two number of objectives,  two level of criteria will be ideal for the present decision problem.

First level of criteria can  be shoreline protection and utilization efficiency that can be achieved from the converter on that location.

The second level criteria will be 1.Total Cost required for installation,operation and maintenance;2. stability of the soil;3.height of the wave;4.wave period;5.ocean depth and 6. wind speed.

The converters must be on-shore and oscillating column type as such kind of converters has a stable mooring structure which is required for shoreline protection. The type of converters will be used as the alternatives.

The Second level criteria will be compared with respect to the first level criteria and the alternatives will be compared with respect to the second level criteria.

After the criteria and alternatives are selected, next step is to identify a MCDM method which can be effectively used for this kind of decision making problems. Analytical Hierarchy Process(AHP) can be a good method as the present problem consist complexity and AHP is known to be ideal for such kind of problems.

The criteria and alternative selected here is based on the opinion of the author of this post.However,other criteria can be used and it will definitely vary with respect to the decision maker.

Short tutorial : How to find the best wave converter for shore line protection by the AHP MCDM method ? (Coming soon).

Apps : For application of AHP in any type of similar decision making problem (Coming soon).

Book/Papers/Reports to learn more :

About Wave Energy Converters : Hosna Titah-Benbouzid, Mohamed Benbouzid. An Up-to-Date Technologies Review and Evaluation of
Wave Energy Converters. INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING-IREE,
2015, 10 (1), pp.52-61.

2. Wave energy converters

About MCDM and AHP : 1. Multi-Criteria Decision Making method

2.Multi-Criteria Decision Making: An Operations Research approach

3.Triantaphyllou E. (2000) Multi-Criteria Decision Making Methods. In: Multi-criteria Decision Making Methods: A Comparative Study. Applied Optimization, vol 44. Springer, Boston, MA.

Software you can use 

For AHP decision making : 1. MakeItRational is a decision support software based on Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). AHP is a method of multi-criteria evaluation which organizes and simplifies decision-making. Use MakeItRational software for supporting complex and tough decisions; 2. The Super Decisions is decision support software that implements the AHP and ANP. The Analytic Hierarchical Process (AHP) and the Analytic Network Process (ANP) make it possible to include intangibles in decision making.

Similar Papers

The difference between the following papers and the present idea is all these papers uses a subjective approach whereas the present idea tried to utilize objective method like MCDM to solve the problem.

Zanuttigh, B., L. Martinelli, M. Castagnetti, P. Ruol, Jens Peter Kofoed, and Peter Frigaard. “Integration of wave energy converters into coastal protection schemes.” Proc ICOE (2010).

Bergillos, Rafael J., Alejandro Lopez-Ruiz, Encarnacion Medina-Lopez, Antonio Monino, and Miguel Ortega-Sanchez. “The role of wave energy converter farms on coastal protection in eroding deltas, Guadalfeo, southern Spain.” Journal of Cleaner Production 171 (2018): 356-367.

Call for Paper related to present research idea:

Monograph : Climate change and its impact on Water and Energy Management : MCDM and ANN Approaches edited by M.Majumder and G.D.Kale.Proposed to be published from Springer. Please reply to this post or contact us if you are interested to submit one of your paper in this book.

Interested to feature your call for paper here ? Kindly reply to this email or contact us.

Thanks,

Mrinmoy Majumder,Founder-Author,Find me in Research Gate,Linked In. Subscribe to the newsletter.

Please acknowledge or cite this idea when you use it for your project and reply to this post or contact us if you want to claim .

Citation : Majumder,M,Research Idea : Selection of Suitable Wave Converters for Shoreline Protection by Multi-Criteria Decision Making Method,Baipatra,Retrieved from http://baipatra.ws/?p=88 on 16/09/2018.

 

Focus of Fortnight

Ideas for doing research on Pump as Turbine

The topic of Pump as turbine is not new but recently due to the advent of different soft-computation technologies and growing demand for electricity has opened the scope and increased the interest of research in this topic. Most of the recent studies deal with optimization of performance and/or hydraulic efficiency of pump as turbine,environmental benefits,numerical simulation of cavitating flow,application in high rise buildings,identification of unstable region,CFD simulation,hydraulic transient analysis,effect of misaligned guide vanes etc. Fuzzy logic was widely used as a soft computation technique to achieve the study objectives. Below are some of the areas under Pump as Turbine where further research may yield useful and novel results.

  1. Impact of climate change on Pump as Turbines(PAT).
  2. Location selection for installation of PAT based hydro-power plant.
  3. CFD Analysis of Pump turbine for identification of unstable regions under different demand scenario
  4. Impact of climate change on fluid flow and cavitation in Pump as turbine systems
  5. Selection of ideal pump and turbine combination for development of a pump – turbine based power plants
  6. Minimization of water and energy use of water systems by installation of pump turbine schemes.
  7. Impact analysis of misaligned blades on performance efficiency of pump-turbine systems.
  8. Indicator based system identification of clearance flow and load rejection,
  9. Selection of renewable energy systems in hilly regions
  10. Impact of conveyance efficiency on loss due to PAT.

Different soft computation techniques can easily be used for achieving objective  of PAT and if possible an experimental set up to establish/validate the data may be installed.

In recent times validation of data has become an important issue for getting acceptance.However,the ten topics above requires in-depth research,analysis and novel synthesis.

Founding Editor (Hons)

My ResearchGate Id : Mrinmoy_Majumder
Call for Paper :
https://baipatra.wufoo.eu/forms/xmfxoaa0lwsnb6/
Subscribe to my newsletter
https://baipatra.wufoo.eu/forms/mn6d02a0qae9va/

Focus of Fortnight

Papers on Pump as Turbine published from Springer Publisher in 2018

In 2017-2018,1073 articles, 1251 book chapters and 241 conference papers were published from Springer Publishers on the topic of “Pump as Turbine”. In 2018 following four papers were published on this topic from Springer Publishers.

  1. Analysis of transient flow in a pump-turbine during the load rejection process,Xiaolong Fu, Deyou Li, Hongjie Wang… in Journal of Mechanical Science and Technolo… (2018)

2. Experimental investigations of a prototype reversible pump turbine in generating mode with water head variations,JinWei Li, YuNing Zhang, JiXing Yu in Science China Technological Sciences (2018)

3. Analysis of the vortices in the inner flow of reversible pump turbine with the new omega vortex identification method,Yu-ning Zhang, Kai-hua Liu, Jin-wei Li … in Journal of Hydrodynamics (2018)

4. Dynamic instability of a pump-turbine in load rejection transient process,XiaoLong Fu, DeYou Li, HongJie Wang, GuangHui Zhang… in Science China Technological Sciences (2018).

The number of documents related to this topic published from Springer Publisher in 2016-17,2015-16,2014-15 and 2013-14 was found to be 1264,1159,1068 and 979 articles respectively. The trend indicates increased interest of research on this topic.

Founding Editor (Hons)

My ResearchGate Id : Mrinmoy_Majumder
Call for Paper :
Subscribe to my newsletter
Focus of Fortnight

Five Latest Papers Published from Elsevier on Pump as Turbine

In 2018 , total 2936 numbers of paper was published from Science Direct or Elsevier Publisher on the topic of “Pump as Turbine”. In 1995 the total number of publication from Elsevier on the same topic was 922. Although, there is a reduction of number of papers published in 2018 compared to 2017 (4349),a steady increase was observed from 2006(1080) to 2017 which depicts a constant increase of research in this field. Below are the five latest papers on Pump as Turbine which was published in 2018 from Elsevier Publishers.

  1. Pumps as turbines for efficient energy recovery in water supply networks,Research article
    Renewable Energy, Volume 122, July 2018, Pages 17-25
    M. Kramer, K. Terheiden, S. Wieprecht
  2. Cavitation behavior study in the pump mode of a reversible pump-turbine,Research article
    Renewable Energy, Volume 125, September 2018, Pages 655-667,Ran Tao, Ruofu Xiao, Fujun Wang, Weichao Liu
  3. A general methodology for performance prediction of pumps-as-turbines using Artificial Neural Networks,Research article
    Renewable Energy, Volume 128, Part A, December 2018, Pages 265-274
    Mosè Rossi, Massimiliano Renzi
  4. Unstable behaviour of pump-turbines and its effects on power regulation capacity of pumped-hydro energy storage plants,Review article
    Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Volume 94, October 2018, Pages 399-409
    Giovanna Cavazzini, Jean-Bernard Houdeline, Giorgio Pavesi, Olivier Teller, Guido Ardizzon
  5. Experimental study of viscosity effects on a pump as turbine performance,Research article
    Renewable Energy, Volume 127, November 2018, Pages 539-547
    Sina Abazariyan, Roohollah Rafee, Shahram Derakhshan

Founding Editor(Hons)

My ResearchGate Id : Mrinmoy_Majumder
Call for Paper :
Subscribe to my newsletter
Focus of Fortnight

Case Study : Limmern pumped storage plant

The above video shows a case study of Limmern Pumped Storage Plant which will use two lakes; Lake Limmern and Lake Mutt, where former is lower by 630 m with respect to the latter. This plant is developed by Axpo (http://www.axpo.com) and the video is created by them.

Founding Editor (Hons)

My ResearchGate Id : Mrinmoy_Majumder
Call for Paper :
Subscribe to my newsletter
Focus of Fortnight

Fengning Pumped-Storage Plant : largest Pumped-storage power station in the world

The video above showed the case study of Fengning Pumped-storage hydroelectric power plant which have a capability of 3.6GW, and is the largest Pumped-storage power station in the world. This video is prepared by “Chinese bridge”.

Founding Editor (Hons)

My ResearchGate Id : Mrinmoy_Majumder
Call for Paper :
Subscribe to my newsletter
Focus of Fortnight

How to generate electricity from pump as turbine ?

The video below is a nice introduction about the concept of Pump as Turbine. A Francis turbine and a pump is used for generating electricity in daytime and lifting water from the river in night-time. This video is prepared by mekanizmalar and can also be found at :  http://www.mekanizmalar.com/menu-power-generation.html

Founding Editor (Hons)

My ResearchGate Id : Mrinmoy_Majumder
Call for Paper :
Subscribe to my newsletter
Focus of Fortnight

Focus of Fortnight : Pump as Turbine

Pump as Turbine is a new concept of using kinetic energy in water for generation of electrical energy. In this concept, a pump is used as turbine when demand for electricity is high (peak time) and during off peak pump is used as a pump to lift the water from a lower elevation to higher elevation.

This concept help to save energy by using the same water for generating electricity. Although due to the conveyance loss, water is required to be replenished time to time, but still this type of process, conserve more water compared to that in conventional hydro-power plant.

This fortnight the theme issue is decided to be “Pump as turbine”.The concept will be introduced in detail, by videos shared by experts ,some papers and some links from this field. Few important and exquisite textbooks,tutorials,monographs and software which are used in this industry will also be shared in this issue of the web-zine.

In addition to this the regular topics of the website is also available.

Founding Editor (Hons),ResearchGate Id : Mrinmoy_Majumder

Call for Paper :
Subscribe to my newsletter
Focus of Fortnight

Ideas for doing research in Salinity Gradient Based Power Plants

Power generation from Salinity Gradient is a new topic of research which is steadily attracting interest from the researchers of renewable energy. The scarcity and rising demand of conventional fuels has also aggrevated the importance of alternative sources of energy where power from salinity gradient or Blue Energy can be an useful solution.

As the topic is new and mostly unexplored,doing research in this aspect have a very high potential. Research ideas like :

1) Cost Minimization of Power Extraction from Saline Water Gradient based Power Plants by Nature Based Optimization Techniques

The first objective of the work will be to identify parameter/s which contribute towards the total expenditure for installation of Salinity Gradient based power plants.After all the parameters were identified and the significance of the weights of the parameters are determined the next step will be to formulate the indicator in such a manner that it become directly proportional to the expenditure for operation and maintenance of salinity gradient based power plants.The second objective will be to implement nature based optimization algorithms like Ant Colony,Artificial Bee Hive etc to minimize the cost function.The significance of the parameters can be estimated by the application of Multi Criteria Decision Making methods(MCDM) and the nature based optimization techniques can be used for minimization of the function.The result of the optimization will yield the ratio at which the significant parameters must behave to produce minimum expenditure to run a saline water based power plant.

2)Estimation of Power Potential from Saline Water Gradient in European/Asian/American Coastal regions : A Polynomial Neural Network Approach

Polynomial Neural Networks are an advanced form of neural network which can self-detect the number of inputs and hidden layers, required for prediction of the most accurate output.The Group Method of Data Handling(GMDH) is a technique by which polynomial neural networks(PNN) are trained where it analyse hundreds of different training algorithms and identify the best algorithm automatically with the help of a fitness function.This kind of technologies can be implemented to estimate the power potential from saline water gradient in various locations of different continents.An iso-hyetal map can be produced from the predictions so that the location with highest potential can be easily delineated.

3)Location selection for installation of Pressure Retarded Osmosis (PRO)/Reverse Electrodialysis (RED)/Hydrocratic Ocean Energy based Salinity Gradient Power plants with the help of MCDM-GMDH or MCDM or GMDH.

MCDMs are an objective procedure to identify the better option among the many available alternatives.GMDH is a technique for training PNNs.This two technologies can be applied to identify locations with higher feasibility among multiple locations selected for installation of Saline Water based power plants.At first the parameters which can select the plausible locations can be identified and then with the help of a function the locations with highest potentiality can be selected.The function will be a product function of the selected parameters and its significance in detecting suitable locations.For different kind of saline water based power generation units(such as Pressure Retarded Osmosis (PRO)/Reverse Electrodialysis (RED)/Hydrocratic Ocean Energy) different features will be selected and the significance of the featuress will also change.The calculation of significance will be executed with the help of MCDM methods and function will be predicted with the help of GMDH based PNNs.

…can attract project funds as well as may help to publish research articles in reputed journals.As a pioneer, citations for such research will be high compared to that for other conventional topics of renewable energy.

Promoting Innovations for Sustainability