Research Profile

Biography

Having received his BSc in 1985 in Jiangxi Normal University (China) in Physics, and MSc in Marine Hydrodynamics and Fluid Dynamics Test Techniques in 1990 at China Naval Academy and China Ship Scientific Research Centre (CSSRC), respectively, he has worked as an assistant lecturer in Nanchang Junior College of Hydraulic Engineering for two years and worked as senior research engineer at CSSRC in theoretical and experimental hydrodynamics. He was the head of seakeeping basin at CSSRC before he moved to the UK in 2000 for a PhD study.

He obtained his PhD at the University of Glasgow in 2004, where he has then worked as a research associate for about 6 years in the same areas of aerodynamics of helicopters and wind turbines. In the research work, he proposed a new onset criterion of dynamic stall for helicopter and wind turbine applications, and based on which he further developed a dynamic stall model for the unsteady aerodynamics of helicopters and wind turbines. The dynamic stall model has been widely validated and utilised for different aerofoils for different applications in both low and high Mach numbers, for instance, for the NACA aerofoils in generalized utilization, for the NREL aerofoils in wind turbine applications, and for the RAE aerofoils in helicopter applications. The new developed dynamic stall model has found many applications, including the numerical tools for tidal/current turbines. A recent paper for a comparison of dynamic stall models on the vertical axis wind turbine published in AIAA Journal (Vol. 52, 2014) has shown the dynamic model’s superiority when compared to the experimental data.

Since 2007, he has also worked in establishing a dataset (database) which contains about 500GB data for more than 1000 sensors data on a quarter scale helicopter model tested in the DNW wind tunnel (FP6 GOAHEAD project) and a relevant code for extracting data from the dataset. Meanwhile in the model test, he built a data acquisition system which was incorporated into the DNW mother acquisition/control system for the unsteady pressure on the fuselage for 130 pressure sensors.

I moved to University College Cork, Ireland in 2009, and am now a senior research fellow, the lead hydrodynamicist and the head of hydrodynamics group at MaREI-Hydraulics and Maritime Research Centre (HMRC) in developing marine renewable energy. My research interests are the world-leading research and technology development targeting on improving wave energy conversion efficiency and reducing the cost of offshore renewable energy production. My research work has been fruitful and rewarding both in innovation solutions to the practical problems and in the fundamental research to solve some generic problems. In the year of 2014, I published 5 papers in top journals (all first authored) and 7 peer-reviewed conference papers (4 first authored and two co-authored prize winners in the International Conference on Ocean Energy in 2014). In addition to the publications, I have also 3 invention applications in UCC:  one in 2013 and two in 2014.

I am leading a European FP7 project (PI in UCC in the FP7 GeoWAVE) and have involved in several other FP7 projects (DTOcean, MaRINET, CORES…), and secured several national Innovation Vouchers in the developments and optimizations of wave energy converters for device developers. Currently, I’m involved in two H2020 LCE2 proposals: one final submission and the other is being enhanced and modified for next H2020 LCE call.

I have developed my experience in module lecturing. I have given two module lectures to the All-Ireland masters on offshore renewable energy since 2014. In the lectures, the materials are mainly from my research experience and results, so that I can demonstrate to the students what the real challenges are and how I can solved the practical problems using some practical examples. These lectures have been well accepted by the students, my colleagues and the lecture organiser.

In addition to the teaching experience, I am currently supervising and have supervised several PhDs, masters, interns and final year projects from UCC and other universities/institutes, including the interns from French Navy and China since 2011. My supervisions have been very successful. I supervised and co-authored two post presentations won the 2nd and 3rd prizes respectively in the ICOE conference recently in Halifax, Canada in Nov. 2014. One of my supervised masters won the EirGrid prize for achieving the highest overall score in Ireland in year 2012-2013.

I have published more than 40 peer-reviewed Journal/Conference papers, plus several manuscripts for journal publications in different processing stages, and the papers in acceptance for conferences. I have been invited to review manuscripts for 18 Journals.

I have been the members of 4 scientific committees and the national expert on the mooring system for marine energy converters (IEC TC114), and the Member of Editorial Board (Renewable Energy)

Research Interests

His research interests are the fundamental research and technology development on how to reduce the overall cost of offshore renewable energy production, especially in improving wave energy conversion efficiency. His research work has been fruitful. In the year of 2014 I published 5 papers in top journals (all first-authored) and 7 peer reviewed conference papers (4 first authored and two co-authored prize winners in the International Conference on Ocean Energy), and I also had two invention applications in UCC in the year. Some of my developed technologies have also seen practical applications. For example, the new latching control technology I published in 2014 has been proposed as one of the control technologies in the recent H2020 LCE2 final proposal. And more importantly, from that research, I found it is possible to develop a novel control technology in which both technical barriers can be removed, whilst attaining 90% more wave energy production. You may be aware of these two technical barriers, that is, the physical implementation and the requirement of future information, that have actually halted the implementations of all existing control technologies in practice. This new control technology was one of my two invention applications in UCC last year. Another good example is that from the methodologies I proposed for PTO optimisations, I found I can optimise the design of some existing wave energy converters so that their performance and energy capture capacities can be improved significantly.

In addition to his journal and conference publications, he also led the creations of the novel technologies for improving marine renewable energy production, such as

1)   Efficient shallow water oscillating water column (OWC) wave energy converter which has been proved both experimentally and numerically to have a simpler structure, but a higher wave energy conversion efficiency and better hydrodynamic performances.

2)   Multiuse platform for floating wind turbines and wave energy converters. The platform has an advantage in both increasing overall energy production and stabilising the platform using the wave energy converters. It is been shown that the pitch motion can be reduced by 70% in the irregular waves

3)   Novel control technology, in which the conventional power take-off system can be used while the wave energy conversion efficiency can be increased by 90%. More importantly, in this novel control technology, two main barriers in control technologies (i.e., the physical implementation of the control technology and the requirement of the detailed and accurate future information (tens of seconds time horizon) are both removed.  

Research Grants

 ProjectFunding
Body
Start DateEnd DateAward
Geoechnical design solutions for the offshore renewable wave energy industry.European Union03-SEP-1202-AUG-15€325,189.00
Good Grief wave energy converterEnterprise Ireland01-NOV-1301-NOV-14€5,000.00
OAK wave energy converterEnterprise Ireland01-SEP-1401-SEP-15€5,000.00
Sea Energies Modelling.Enterprise Irl29-NOV-1210-SEP-14€6,500.00

Publications

Peer Reviewed Journals

 YearPublication
(2015)'Performance assessment of wave measurements of wave buoys'
Qiulin Liu, Tony Lewis, Yongliang Zhang, Wanan Sheng (2015) 'Performance assessment of wave measurements of wave buoys'. International Journal of Marine Energy, [Details]
(2010)'Applications of low-speed dynamic-stall model to the NREL airfoils'
Sheng, Wanan and Galbraith, Roderick A McD and Coton, Frank N (2010) 'Applications of low-speed dynamic-stall model to the NREL airfoils'. 132 (1) [Details]
(2008)'A modified dynamic stall model for low Mach numbers'
Sheng, Wanan and Galbraith, RA and Coton, FN (2008) 'A modified dynamic stall model for low Mach numbers'. Journal of Solar Energy Engineering, 130 (3) [Details]
(2015)'Numerical study on the dynamics of a two-raft wave energy conversion device'
Siming Zheng, Yong-Hao Zhang, Yongliang Zhang, Wanan Sheng (2015) 'Numerical study on the dynamics of a two-raft wave energy conversion device'. Journal of Fluids and Structures, [Details]
(2015)'A review of economic and socio-economic assessment and methodologies of ocean renewable energy: private and public perspectives'
Dalton, G., Allan, G., Beaumont, N., Georgakaki, A., Hacking, N., Hooper, T., Kerr, S., O’Hagan, A. M., Reilly, K., Ricci, P., Sheng, W., Stallard, T. (2015) 'A review of economic and socio-economic assessment and methodologies of ocean renewable energy: private and public perspectives'. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 45 :850-878 [DOI] [Details]
(2015)'A new method for radiation forces for floating platforms in waves'
Wanan Sheng, Ray Alcorn, Tony Lewis (2015) 'A new method for radiation forces for floating platforms in waves'. Ocean Engineering, 105 :43-53 [DOI] [Details]
(2014)'Physical modelling of wave energy converters'
Sheng, Wanan and Alcorn, Raymond and Lewis, Tony (2014) 'Physical modelling of wave energy converters'. Ocean Engineering, 84 :29-36 [Details]
(2014)'On improving wave energy conversion, part II: Development of latching control technologies'
Wanan Sheng, Raymond Alcorn, Anthony Lewis (2014) 'On improving wave energy conversion, part II: Development of latching control technologies'. Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, :1-10 [Details]
(2014)'On improving wave energy conversion, part I: Optimal and control technologies'
Wanan Sheng, Raymond Alcorn, Anthony Lewis (2014) 'On improving wave energy conversion, part I: Optimal and control technologies'. Renewable Energy, :1-13 [Details]
(2014)'Assessment of primary energy conversions of oscillating water columns. I. Hydrodynamic analysis'
Sheng, Wanan and Alcorn, Raymond and Lewis, Anthony (2014) 'Assessment of primary energy conversions of oscillating water columns. I. Hydrodynamic analysis'. Journal Of Renewable And Sustainable Energy, 6 [Details]
(2014)'Assessment of primary energy conversions of oscillating water columns. II. Power take-off and validations'
Sheng, Wanan and Alcorn, Raymond and Lewis, Anthony (2014) 'Assessment of primary energy conversions of oscillating water columns. II. Power take-off and validations'. Journal Of Renewable And Sustainable Energy, 6 [Details]
(2013)'On thermodynamics in the primary power conversion of oscillating water column wave energy converters'
Sheng, Wanan and Alcorn, Raymond and Lewis, Anthony (2013) 'On thermodynamics in the primary power conversion of oscillating water column wave energy converters'. Journal Of Renewable And Sustainable Energy, 5 (2) [Details]
(2012)'Assessment of wave energy extraction from seas: numerical validation'
Sheng, Wanan and Lewis, Anthony (2012) 'Assessment of wave energy extraction from seas: numerical validation'. Journal of Energy Resources Technology, 134 (4) [Details]
(2012)'Advancement of aerofoil section dynamic stall synthesis methods for rotor design'
Sheng, W and Chan, W and Galbraith, R (2012) 'Advancement of aerofoil section dynamic stall synthesis methods for rotor design'. Aeronautical Journal, 116 (1179):521-539 [Details]
(2011)'Short-term prediction of an artificial neural network in an oscillating water column'
Sheng, Wanan and Lewis, Anthony and others (2011) 'Short-term prediction of an artificial neural network in an oscillating water column'. International Journal of Offshore and Polar Engineering, 21 (04) [Details]
(2009)'On the S809 airfoil's unsteady aerodynamic characteristics'
Sheng, Wanan and Galbraith, Roderick A McD and Coton, Frank N (2009) 'On the S809 airfoil's unsteady aerodynamic characteristics'. Wind Energy, 12 (8):752-767 [Details]
(2008)'Prediction of dynamic stall onset for oscillatory low-speed airfoils'
Sheng, W and Galbraith, RA and Coton, FN (2008) 'Prediction of dynamic stall onset for oscillatory low-speed airfoils'. Journal of Fluids Engineering, 130 (10) [Details]
(2007)'Improved dynamic-stall-onset criterion at low Mach numbers'
Sheng, Wanan and Galbraith, Roderic A and Coton, Frank N (2007) 'Improved dynamic-stall-onset criterion at low Mach numbers'. Journal of aircraft, 44 (3):1049-1052 [Details]

Other Journals

 YearPublication
(2011)'On the generation of a helicopter aerodynamic database'
Raffel, M and De Gregorio, F and De Groot, K and Schneider, O and Sheng, W and Gibertini, G and Seraudie, A (2011) 'On the generation of a helicopter aerodynamic database' Aeronautical Journal, 115 (1164) :103-112. [Details]
(2009)'Generation of an advanced helicopter experimental aerodynamic database'
Raffel, M and De Gregorio, F and Sheng, W and Gibertini, G and Seraudie, A and De Groot, K and van der Wall, BG (2009) 'Generation of an advanced helicopter experimental aerodynamic database' Proceedings of the 35th European rotorcraft forum, Hamburg, Germany, . [Details]
(2007)'Return from Aerofoil Stall During Ramp-Down Pitching Motions'
Sheng, Wanan and McD. Galbraith, Rodderic A and Coton, Frank N (2007) 'Return from Aerofoil Stall During Ramp-Down Pitching Motions' Journal of Aircraft, 44 (6) :1856-1864. [Details]
(2006)'A new stall-onset criterion for low speed dynamic-stall'
Sheng, W and Galbraith, RA McD and Coton, FN (2006) 'A new stall-onset criterion for low speed dynamic-stall' Journal of Solar Energy Engineering, 128 (4) :461-471. [Details]
(2002)'Development and Application of a Flow Guide Combinationof Depressed Plate and Guide piers in the Front Basin of SBPump Station in Shanghai Sewage Treatment Project II [J]'
LI, Bai-qi and ZHANG, You-jing and WANG, Tian-kui and YANG, Xiao-zhong and HA, Bi-xiao and ZHU, Bing-quan and SHENG, Wan-an and ZHU, De-xiang and LIU, Xiao-dong (2002) 'Development and Application of a Flow Guide Combinationof Depressed Plate and Guide piers in the Front Basin of SBPump Station in Shanghai Sewage Treatment Project II [J]' Journal of Ship Mechanics, 2 . [Details]
(1999)'Experimental study of damaged stability for a containership'
Huanqiu, Gao and Wanan, Sheng and Nan, Xie (1999) 'Experimental study of damaged stability for a containership' Journal of Ship Mechanics, 3 (6) :18-28. [Details]
(1998)'Experimental Study on Effect of Sloshing on Ship Roll Morion'
Gao, H., Xie, N., Sheng, W., Qian, Y. (1998) 'Experimental Study on Effect of Sloshing on Ship Roll Morion' Journal of Ship Mechanics, 2 . [Details]
(1998)'Experimen-tal study on effect of sloshing on ship roll motion'
Huanqiu, Gao and Nan, Xie and Wanan, Shen and Yaoxin, Qian (1998) 'Experimen-tal study on effect of sloshing on ship roll motion' Journal of Ship Mechanics, 6 . [Details]
(1994)'REAL TIME PREDICTION OF ENVELOPE OF SHIP MOTION USING NEURAL NETWORK [J]'
GAO, Huanqiu and XIE, Nan and SHENG, Wanan (1994) 'REAL TIME PREDICTION OF ENVELOPE OF SHIP MOTION USING NEURAL NETWORK [J]' Shipbuilding of China, 3 . [Details]
(1993)'Research on Nonlinear Equation of Ship Rolling'
Sheng, Wanan and Chen, Guanyi (1993) 'Research on Nonlinear Equation of Ship Rolling' Journal of Hydrodynamics, 8 (2) :152-158. [Details]
(1990)'On the large amplitude motions of ships'
Sheng, Wanan and Chen, Guanyi (1990) 'On the large amplitude motions of ships' Advances in Chinese Naval Architecture, 4 . [Details]

Conference Publications

 YearPublication
(2015)IWWWFB
Wanan Sheng, Raymond Alcorn and Anthony Lewis (2015) Optimising power take-offs for maximizing wave energy conversions IWWWFB [Details]
(2014)29th International Workshop on Water Waves and Floating Bodies
Sheng, Wanan and Alcorn, Raymond and Lewis, Anthony (2014) Latching control theory for wave energy conversion 29th International Workshop on Water Waves and Floating Bodies [Details]
(2014)Renew 2014
P. Casaubieilh, F. Thiebaut, B. Bosma, C. Retzler, M. Shaw, Y. Letertre & W. Sheng (2014) Performance improvements of mooring systems for wave energy converters Renew 2014 [Details]
(2014)Renew 2014
Sheng, Wanan; Alcorn, Ray; Lewis, Tony (2014) Hydrodynamics of oscillating water column wave energy converters Renew 2014 [Details]
(2014)International Conference on Ocean Energy
Liu, Qiulin and Lewis, Tony and Zhang, Yongliang and Wanan, Sheng (2014) Experimental study on the wave measurements of wave buoys International Conference on Ocean Energy [Details]
(2014)International Conference on Ocean Energy
Sheng, Wanan and Alcorn, Ray and Lewis, Tony (2014) A new latching control technology for improving wave energy conversion International Conference on Ocean Energy [Details]
(2014)International Conference on Ocean Energy
Bret, Bosma and Wanan, Sheng and Thiebaut, Florent (2014) Performance Study of the Galway Bay Wave Energy Test Site Floating Power System International Conference on Ocean Energy [Details]
(2013)Proceedings of 10th European Wave and Tidal Energy Conference, 2-5th Sep 2013, Aalborg, Denmark
Sheng, Wanan and Alcorn, Raymond and Lewis, Anthony (2013) Primary Wave Energy Conversions of Oscillating Water Columns Proceedings of 10th European Wave and Tidal Energy Conference, 2-5th Sep 2013, Aalborg, Denmark [Details]
(2013)OMAE 2013
Sheng, Wanan;Alcorn, Ray; Lewis, Tony (2013) INVESTIGATION TO AIR COMPRESSIBILITY OF OSCILLATING WATER COLUMN WAVE ENERGY CONVERTERS OMAE 2013 [Details]
(2012)International Conference on Ocean Energy
Sheng, W and Lewis, T and Alcorn, R (2012) On wave energy extraction of oscillating water column device International Conference on Ocean Energy [Details]
(2012)ASME 2012 31st International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering
Sheng, Wanan and Flannery, Brian and Lewis, Anthony and Alcorn, Raymond (2012) Experimental studies of a floating cylindrical OWC WEC ASME 2012 31st International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering , pp.169-178 [Details]
(2012)ASME 2012 31st International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering
Sheng, Wanan and Lewis, Anthony and Alcorn, Raymond (2012) Numerical Studies of a Floating Cylindrical OWC WEC ASME 2012 31st International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering , pp.179-187 [Details]
(2012)31st International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering
Sheng, W., Flannery, B., Lewis, T., Alcorn, R. (2012) Experimental Studies of a Cylindrical OWC WEC 31st International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering [Details]
(2011)European Wave and Tidal Energy Conference
Sheng, W and Lewis, AW and Alcorn, R (2011) Numerical Investigation into Hydrodynamics of Moored Floating Wave Energy Converters European Wave and Tidal Energy Conference [Details]
(2011)ASME 2011 30th International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering
Sheng, Wanan and Lewis, Anthony and Alcorn, Raymond (2011) Numerical studies on hydrodynamics of a floating oscillating water column ASME 2011 30th International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering , pp.275-282 [Details]
(2010)HeliJapan
Sheng, Wanan and Chan, Wayland and Galbraith, Roderick (2010) Advancement of aerofoil section dynamic stall synthesis methods for rotor design HeliJapan [Details]
(2010)International Conference on Ocean Energy
Sheng, Wanan and Lewis, Athony and Alcorn, Raymond and Johaning, Lars and Kirrane, Patrick (2010) Experimental Investigation of hydrodynamic Characteristics of a moored floating WEC International Conference on Ocean Energy [Details]
(2010)ISOPE 2010
Sheng, Wanan and Lewis, Athony (2010) Artificial neural network application in short-term prediction in an oscillating water column ISOPE 2010 [Details]
(2009)35th European Rotorcraft Forum
Raffel, M., De Gregorio, F., Gilbertini, G., De (2009) Generation of an Advanced Helicopter Experimental Aerodynamic Database 35th European Rotorcraft Forum [Details]
(2008)46th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit
Sheng, W., Galbraith, R. A. McD., Coton, F. N. (2008) Applications of Low Speed Dynamic Stall Model to the NREL Airfoils 46th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit [Details]
(2007)7th AIAA Aviation Technology, Integration, and Operations (ATIO) Conference
Sheng, W., Galbraith, R. A. McD. (2007) CFD Simulations in Support of Wind Tunnel Testing 7th AIAA Aviation Technology, Integration, and Operations (ATIO) Conference [Details]
(2007)45th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit
Sheng, W., Galbraith, R. A. McD., Coton, F. N. (2007) A Modified Dynamic Stall Model for Low Mach Numbers 45th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit [Details]
(2007)45th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit
Sheng, W., Galbraith, R. A. McD., Coton, F. N. (2007) On the Return from Aerofoil Stall during Ramp-down Pitching Motions 45th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit [Details]

Professional Activities

Honours and Awards

 YearTitleAwarding Body
20142nd Prize Poster presentation ICOE ICOE organiser
20143rd Prize Poster presentation ICOE ICOE organiser

Professional Associations

 AssociationFunctionFrom / To
IEC 62600-10, national expert member20-JAN-15 /

Disclosures

 TitleInventorSubmitted
1. Efficient shallow water oscillating water column wave energy converters Sheng, Wanan; Alcorn, Ray; Lewis, Tony
2. Novel multiuse platform for floating wind energy and wave energy converters Sheng, Wanan; Alcorn, Ray; Lewis, Tony
3. Novel control technology for improving wave energy conversion Sheng, Wanan; Alcorn, Ray; Lewis, Tony

Committees

 CommitteeFunctionFrom / To
Ocean Renewable Energy (OMAE) member2012 /
ISSC V4 Offshor Renewable Energy member2013 /
Renewable Energies Ofshore (RENEW) member2014 /

Employment

 EmployerPositionFrom / To
University College Cork Senior Reserach Fellow01-MAR-09 /
University of Glasgow, UK Research Associate20-JAN-04 / 28-FEB-09
China Ship Scientific Research Centre Head of hydrodynamics; senior researcher20-MAY-90 / 20-DEC-99
Nanchang University of Hydraulic Engineering Assistant Lecturer20-JUN-85 / 31-AUG-87

Education

 YearInstitutionQualificationSubject
2004University of Glasgow (UK) PHDAerodynamics
1990China Naval Academy MEngScHydrodynamics of large motions
1985Jiangxi Normal University, China BSC (HONS) 2:1Physics

Languages

 LanguageReadingWritingSpeaking
Chinese FluentFluentFluent
English FluentFluentFluent

Consultancy

 ClientDescription
SeaEnergies Ltd
Assessment of SeaEnergies wave energy converter
GoodGrief WEC
assessment of wave energy production

Outreach Activities

 Description

- Wave energy conversion and Hydrodynamics in UCC, invited presentation, WCWI workshop, 30-31 Oct. 2014

- Challenges in wave energy conversion, invited presentation, CSSRC (Wuxi, China), 29 Dec. 2014

Journal Activities

 JournalRoleTo / From
Renewable Energy Member of Editorial Board20-JUL-15 -
Ocean Engineering Referee01-JAN-14 -
Ieee Journal Of Oceanic Engineering Referee07-JAN-14 -
Journal Of Renewable And Sustainable Energy Referee19-JAN-13 -
Renewable Energy Referee01-JAN-13 -
Ieee Transactions On Energy Conversion Referee04-MAY-14 -
Wind Energy Referee20-JAN-09 -

Teaching Activities

Teaching Interests

- Stability of floating structure

- hydrodynamics of offshore renewable energy

- applied mathematics

- Ocean engineering


Recent Postgraduates

 Graduation YearStudent NameInstitutionDegree TypeThesis Title
2013Peter Hourihane University College Corkhydrodynamicsof tidal turbines

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