Recent and ongoing research projects in the department cover a variety of subject areas ranging from theoretical through practical.

marion imageAmong these are computer modeling of the storm waves and surge generation, tsunami runup and coastal inundation, motions of very large floating platforms (hydroelasticity), hydrodynamics of fluid-filled membrane in gravity waves, wave modeling for insular regions, wave attenuation on a coastal zone, tidal wave numerical modeling, two- and three-dimensional hydraulic models, sediment plume dynamics, mooring dynamics, gas evolution in open cycle ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC), thermodynamic evaluation of the OTEC process, electrodeposition of calcium carbonate from seawater for structural elements, wave and current forces on oil transport and OTEC pipelines, design and motion analysis of moored data buoys, motion and structural analysis of SWATH ships, wastewater outfall plume dynamics, baroclinic tide dynamics, numerical simulation of nonlinear fluid-structure interaction problems, and design of artificial reefs.

tsunami imageIt is expected that future research areas will include OTEC cold water usage for aquaculture and artificial upwelling, wave energy, very large floating structure dynamics, semi-submersible ship design, manganese crust mining and processing, as well as additional work related to coastal areas and the economic development of ocean resources, such as energy and bioproducts.

The results of the research projects completed can be found in faculty publications and in MS thesis and PhD dissertations.