Isamar Lopez

• Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco

Galician Rias are among the most productive ecosystems in the world. Consequently, the soils of their salt marshes and sediments of the intertidal flats show high organic matter contents, reactive Fe, and sulfate, which promote pyrite synthesis and accumulation, using sulfate for organic matter decomposition. This work studies the morphological var...

The placement of artificial reef (AR) units on the seabed modifies the velocity field of the water, making the nutrients circulate properly and creating the necessary habitat for the settlement of the desired species. This paper proposes a methodology for determining the circulation in the vicinity of one specific AR unit module previously defined...

Residual flows are of major importance in coastal areas, driving environmental processes such as sediment transport or nutrient dispersion. Consequently, in those areas where a large tidal stream energy resource is available, prior to the installation of a tidal farm, it is imperative to assess how energy extraction affects the residual flows and,...

Hydrokinetic energy can contribute to diversify and decarbonise the energy mix in many coastal regions, in particular estuaries. These are typically areas of high environmental value and with intense socioeconomic activity. The aim of this work is to provide a comprehensive methodology for selecting the optimum locations for hydrokinetic energy exp...

Overfishing and pollution have led to marine habitat degradation, and as a result, marine fisheries are now in decline. Consequently, there is a real need to enhance marine ecosystems while halting the decline of fish stocks and boosting artisanal fishing. Under these circumstances, artificial reefs (ARs) have emerged as a promising option. Neverth...

The operation of tidal stream energy farms may interfere with other uses of the marine space, especially in depth-limited areas (estuaries, rivers, etc.) which are typically subject to multiple demands of use. The Marine Spatial Planning Directive (MSP) was passed by the European Commission in 2014 to ensure a harmonic coexistence between different...

The tidal and river in-stream energy resource in the Shannon Estuary (W Ireland) is investigated using of high-resolution numerical modelling and spatial analysis. Although freshwater discharges are large, their influence on the available resource is found to be all but negligible, the tide being the main driver of estuarine circulation. The Tidal...

This article presents the characteristic curves of a vertical-axis hydrokinetic tidal turbine of the Darrieus subtype aimed at meeting the electricity demand of port facilities located at harbors and estuaries with low water-speed conditions. The turbine was tested in the water-current flume of the University of Santiago de Compostela for several f...

Although oscillating water column (OWC) wave energy converters are arguably one of the most studied technologies, it is not clear which chamber geometry, among all of the available alternatives, would provide the best performance at a site of interest. In this work, a numerical model based on the Navier-Stokes equations for two compressible fluids,...

For the evolution and development of artificial reefs to attain the expected results, hydrodynamics is emerging as a key factor that must be taken analyzed in detail. In particular, thanks to the hydrodynamics of a given coastal area, suitable water circulation and velocity in the reef's interior can increase the yield and the renewal of nutrients...

The Ría de Ortigueira is an environmentally well conserved; however, the sediments show high concentrations of toxic elements. In some zones, the concentrations of Ni (60-1080 mg kg − 1) and Cr (9-567 mg kg − 1) were extremely high, while the concentrations of other toxic elements were within normal ranges. PCA revealed that metal enrichment was du...

The intra-annual variability in the wave resource is often disregarded when analysing the performance of wave energy converters (WECs), despite the fact that this variability is substantial in the majority of the areas of interest for the development of wave energy. The objective of this work is to analyse and quantify the intra-annual variability...

The energy conversion performance of oscillating water column (OWC)wave energy converters at a specific site is often studied by means of analytical models. Based on linear theory, these models lose accuracy when viscous losses and turbulence become significant—more generally, when nonlinear effects play a role, as they often do in real operating c...

The influence of attaching a step to the conventional shore based Oscillating Water Column device on the hydrodynamic performance has been assessed by carrying out experimental investigations. The level of the efficiency improvement in various wave characteristics and Power Take-Off damping conditions were investigated. Three different Power Take-O...

Air compressibility is often neglected in experimental work due to practical difficulties, even though it is known to affect the performance of OWC wave energy converters. The key question, of course, is to what extent. In this work the impact of air compressibility on the capture width ratio is thoroughly quantified by means of a comprehensive exp...

Wave farm planning in a coastal region should lead to the selection of: i) the type of technology of wave energy converter (WEC) providing the highest performance at specific sites and ii) the sites for wave farm operation allowing an integrated coastal zone management (ICZM). On these bases, the deployment of a wave farm should be based on an accu...

The performance of an oscillating water column wave energy converter is investigated based on both numerical and experimental approaches. The viscosity effects are neglected in the numerical approach and the boundary integral equation method (BIEM) is implemented to solve the appropriate 2D boundary value problem (BVP). The influence of turbine dam...

Although oscillating water column (OWC) systems are one of the most studied types of wave energy converter, developing a method for selecting the optimum turbine for an OWC at a given site—i.e., subjected to a particular wave climate—remains a current research topic. The objective of this work is to develop and apply a methodology for determining t...

Infragravity waves play an important role in port operations and many nearshore processes, and therefore their characterization is of major interest for oceanographers and coastal engineers. The lack of proper measurement networks and historic databases makes the development of hindcasting techniques essential. This work presents a fully-developed...

Waves are one of the main factors that can disturb port operations, from berthing to cargo loading and unloading. Wave heights within port basins are typically assessed by means of numerical models based on the outer (offshore) wave conditions, the bathymetry and the port layout. The aim of this work is to implement an artificial neural network (AN...

In an OWC (oscillating water column) wave energy converter the damping exerted by the turbine on the movements of the water column is one of the main factors, if not the main, affecting the power output. In this work the effects of the turbine-induced damping and the variation in the tidal level on the efficiency of the converter are investigated b...

The performance of an oscillating water column (OWC) wave energy converter depends on many factors, among which the incident wave conditions, the tidal level or the coupling between the chamber and the air turbine. In this work a 2D numerical model based on the RANS equations and the VOF surface capturing scheme (RANS–VOF) is implemented in order t...

The performance of oscillating water column (OWC) systems depends on a number of factors in a complex manner. The objective of this work is to analyse the influence of the wave conditions, the damping caused by the turbine and the tidal level on the efficiency of the conversion from wave to pneumatic energy that occurs in the OWC chamber. To achiev...

The performance of an oscillating water column (OWC) wave energy converter depends on many factors, such as the wave conditions, the tidal level and the coupling between the chamber and the air turbine. So far most studies have focused on either the chamber or the turbine, and in some cases the influence of the tidal level has not been dealt with p...

The International Conference on Coastal Engineering (ICCE) is a biennial conference held under the auspices of the Coastal Engineering Research Council of the COPRI (Coasts, Oceans, Ports, Rivers Institute) of the American Society of Civil Engineers. The Proceedings of the ICCE are provided here, with papers covering a wide range of topics includin...

Oscillating Water Column (OWC) systems are one of the most popular technologies for wave energy conversion. Their main elements are the chamber with the water column and the air turbine. When studying the performance of an OWC system both elements should be considered together, for they are effectively coupled: the damping exerted by the air turbin...

In 2005 the first stage in the construction of a new port in the outer Ria de Ferrol, an estuary in NW Spain, was concluded with a 1070 m long breakwater. Up to now this port has served for bulk traffic; in a few months a new stage in its development will start as a new container terminal enters operation. Harbor operations and, in particular, cont...

Oscillating water column wave power plants (OWC) are widely used in the ocean wave energy conversion. It is universally accepted that for a good efficiency of the plant, the turbine and the chamber should matched each other according to the wave climate site. The damping applied by the turbine has appreciable effects on the chamber performance of t...

An artificial neural network model of headland-bay beach planform is presented and developed. It differs from conventional models in two fundamental respects. First, the knowledge of the problem is not input to the model in the form of a given planform equation, but is acquired by the model itself from a series of examples of headland-bay beaches i...

The shoreline of beaches in the lee of coastal salients or man-made structures, usually known as headland-bay beaches, has a distinctive curvature; wave fronts curve as a result of wave diffraction at the headland and in turn cause the shoreline to bend. The ensuing curved planform is of great interest both as a peculiar landform and in the context...