Author Interview with Wanan Sheng and George Aggidis
Authors of the book: "Fundamentals of Wave Energy Conversions: The Dynamics of the Wave-Structure Interactions and Wave Energy Optimisation"
1. Please introduce yourself. What would you like your reader to know about you?
Both of us have been working in wave energy conversion for many years, in fact, more than combined 35 years, together with the 1st author’s experience of more than 10 years in tank testing and numerical modelling for ships and offshore structures.
Our research covers many different topics in wave energy conversions, all towards maximising wave energy production so for reducing the cost of wave energy. The topics include the wave-structure interactions (hydrodynamics), the optimisations of the wave energy converters and of power take-off (PTO systems), as well as the control for improving wave energy extraction, et al. This book can be regarded as a summary of our research work on wave energy conversion (also with our deep understandings to the practical problems in wave energy conversion) so for providing the complete and detailed materials for those who may be interested in studying wave energy conversions.
2. What is your inspiration/motivation for writing?
Our motivation is that we found currently there is no book on a systematic introduction of wave energy conversion principles, including hydrodynamics of the wave-structure interaction (it is also important for other offshore structures, such as the conventional ocean platforms, as well as the offshore wind turbines etc), the optimisation of wave energy conversion and the optimisation and control of the power take-off system (PTO). To fill the gap, we decide to write a book to introduce the basic principles of the whole wave energy conversion process and to provide the readers to the complete information (hopefully) for understanding the problems as well as the method to solve the problems.
3. How long did it take to complete your research from the idea to the book?
The overall process is very fast, and this mainly depends on how long the manuscript is prepared. Our experience with this book is that we made the proposal for the book in Feb 2022, and it took us a little more than 6 months to finish the manuscript and proofreading. After that, it merely took about 2 weeks, and our book was published on 18th Sep 2022, a really fast process.
4. What's the main message and idea of "Fundamentals of Wave Energy Conversions: The Dynamics of the Wave-Structure Interactions and Wave Energy Optimisation"?
The main idea behind this book is for providing the complete and detailed materials in a collective manner for the fundamentals of wave energy conversion, with the focus on the wave-structure interaction (which is also important for those who are interested in the conventional platforms and offshore wind energy et al) and the optimisations of the wave energy converters and power take-off systems, as well as the control technologies for maximising wave energy conversion. We aimed to fill the gap that the materials on the principles are scattered in different publications, plus our experiences and understandings in solving the relevant problems in our research. The readers should be able to find the required materials/information in this book regarding the wave-structure interaction and wave energy conversion.
5. What was the most unexpected conclusion you came up with while preparing "Fundamentals of Wave Energy Conversions: The Dynamics of the Wave-Structure Interactions and Wave Energy Optimisation"?
Our experience in preparing this book is that the finished book may not be fully following the proposal for the book, and we believed (with a slight change in the book structure, we could present the book in a better way. This is actually encouraged in the process in the writing and preparation of the book.
In preparing our book, the most unexpected conclusion may be the part on the control of wave energy conversion, especially the model predictive control (MPC). We could not find any publication for a detailed and complete description on this topic. Then we decided to derive all the formulas on our own, and this is why we can see the complete and detailed materials on MPC in this book.
6. How would you describe your publishing experience with Eliva Press in a few words?
We are really very happy to publish our book with Eliva Press. The publication process is quite simple and fast. Our proposal for the book was confirmed just in a few days after our proposal submission. And then we were provided with the detailed instructions on how to prepare the book (again quite simple and straightforward). With the finished writing (after the proofreading), it took only about 10 days to go to press. I am very happy with the speed and the output of the book.
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