Simulation of a High-Energy Finfish Aquaculture Site Using a Finite Element Net Model

Abstract

Over half of the seafood in the world today is produced through aquaculture. Many finfish species, such as Atlantic salmon, are farmed in permeable net pens in the ocean. Traditionally, these sites have been located in regions protected from high energy ocean swell, current, and wind. However, in areas such as Nova Scotia, Canada, there is a declining number of such protected locations available and so aquaculturists are moving into exposed sites. To safely operate at these sites, it is necessary to engineer the pens to withstand the forces of the open ocean. To conclusively assess finfish aquaculture equipment and moorings in open ocean conditions, Dynamic Systems Analysis Ltd. (DSA) has developed a finite-element net model (FENM) to interface with the dynamics simulation software ProteusDS. The following paper presents the development of the FENM and demonstrates the capability of the FENM to model wave and current loadings by comparing FENM simulations with published results from tank tests. In addition, the results of simulations of a full scale finfish aquaculture site in hurricane conditions are presented. The conditions were collected with an acoustic Doppler current profiler during hurricane Earl on September 4, 2010. The mooring line tensions from the ProteusDS simulation are compared against tensions measured during the storm with a Submersible Tension Logger (STL).