Environmental Impacts
Turbine/Animal Strike Impact Study
Led by
Marianne Porter, Ph.D.
Affiliated Home Campus: Boca Raton
Affiliated Department: Biological Sciences
PROJECT
This summer Brian Nkenke joined Dr. Marianne Porter’s team with their work on shark skin properties. The work done this summer utilized a software called FEBio to model shark skin properties using finite element analysis. Finite element analysis (FEA) uses the finite element method to evaluate a material or body and determine how applied stress can affect the design. FEA can help determine any points of weakness in an object or a body such as that of a shark. The goal is to study the impact that a turbine will have on sharks if a shark strike occurs. The shark skin properties that were tested are ultimate tensile strength and stiffness. These properties were analyzed for five species of sharks namely: Bonnethead, Scalloped hammerhead, Blacktip, Bull, and Shortfin mako sharks. These FEA models will provide data that will inform continued development and utility of ocean current energy harnessing installations.
