MECHANICAL ENGINEERING—ENGINEERING MECHANICS
Proudly Presents:
Dr. Umesh Korde
South Dakota School of Mines and Technology
Umesh Korde is a Professor at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology,
where he holds the Pearson Chair in Mechanical Engineering. He has been working on
wave energy conversion since 1982, and has contributed a number of new designs and
control approaches to the field. He has a long publication history in the wave energy
conversion area, and his current work includes wave-by-wave impedance matching control, deterministic wave-elevation prediction, nonlinear dynamics, and adaptive control.
A large part of his ongoing wave-energy activity has been in collaboration with MTU and
Sandia National Laboratories.
He is an associate editor of the Journal Ocean Engineering and Marine Energy, and he serves on the editorial
boards of the journals Ocean Engineering, and the Journal of Marine Science and Engineering. He is a Fellow of
the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).
Thursday,November5,2015
4:00 pm — 103 EERC
Hydrodynamic Design of Wave Energy Converters
The United States coastline typically receives about 2500 TWh of wave power each year. Opportunities for
research on wave energy conversion are wide, varied, and exciting, and much attention has been given to
this area at MTU in recent years. This talk will focus on a review of important linear hydrodynamic results, which can be utilized to guide the design of efficient and potentially cost-effective conversion using
wave-activated mechanical oscillations of floating bodies. Particular attention will be given to geometries
that optimize the interaction between a device and the approaching wave-field such that best energy conversion is possible. In addition, interesting ways to combine oscillations in different modes to maximize
energy conversion will also be reviewed. Both 2-D and 3-D interactions will be considered. The importance of hydrodynamic-response control will be discussed, and the fundamental difficulties inherent to
such control will be outlined. The talk will conclude with a discussion of selected results from recent
work.