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Prof Philipp Thies

Professorof of Renewable Energy (Personal Chair)

Email:

Telephone: 01326 255849

 

 Google Scholar  ResearchGate  @philipp_thies

Research

Philipp's research interest lies in the reliability engineering of renewable energy technologies with a focus on offshore energy. This includes:

  • Analytical system reliability assessment
  • Bayesian statistical methods
  • Numerical and experimental modelling of operational marine field load conditions
  • Physical component reliability testing (performance, service simulation and accelerated testing
  Ongoing Projects:   Completed Projects:
  • PI:  Carbon Trust Floating Wind Joint Industry Project, Floating Wind Technology Acceleration Competition, Intelligent Mooring systems, in collaboration with Intelligent Mooring Systems.
  • Co-I: EPSRC: Resilient Integrated-Coupled Floating Offshore WInd platform design methofology (ResIn). EP/R007519/1. Global Challenge Research Fund (GCRF), collaborative project with Dalian Uniceristy of Technology, China. 07/2017 - 07/2020.
  • PI: INNOVATE UK: Dynamic Load Reduction and Station Keeping Mooring System for Floating Offshore Wind. Project led by Teqniqa Systems Ltd. Grant 103889, 10/2017 - 02/2020.
  • Co-I: EU-Interreg: Intelligent Community Energy (ICE). Project led by Bretagne Developpement Innovation. France (Channel-Manche) England project. 09/2016 - 08/2020. 
  • Co-I: EU Horizon2020: Open Sea Operating Experience to Reduce Wave Energy Cost (OPERA). Project led by Tecnalia, Spain, Grant 654444, 02/2016-07/2019.
  • Co-I: INNOVATE UK: Autonomous Robotic Intervention System for Extreme Maritime Environments (ARISE). Project led by ASV Global Ltd. Grant 104085. 12/2017 - 11/2018.
  • Co-I: United Kingdom Centre for Marine Energy Research (UKCMER). Project led by Edinburgh University, EP/P008682/1, 01/2016-09/2018.
  • PI: RAEng: Socio-technical assessment of risk in community energy projects - STAR. GCRF Frontiers of Engineering for Development. FOESF1617\1\1. 12/2016 - 08/2017.
  • PI: Great Western Four+ Doctoral Training Partnership: AEMORE - Acoustic Emission technology for environmental and engineering health Monitoring of Offshore Renewable Energy Collaboration with SEA plc. 09/2014-03/2018
  • PI: EPSRC NEWTON Fund Energy absorbing mooring systems: Risk-based investigation for high intensity typhoon conditions in China (MoTyph) EP/M019942/1. 11/2014 - 04/2015.
  • Co-I: INNOVATE UK: Archimedes Wave Swing Mooring muscle - performance and reliability test programme. Project led by AWS Ocean Energy, Grant 101970, 08/2014-04/2016
  • Co-I: Marine Renewables Commercialisation Fund (MRCF): Testing qualification and commercialisation of advanced mooring system for wave & tidal arrays, project led by TTI Ltd 01/2014 - 03/2015

 

  PhD Supervision:

Graduated:

Jodi Walsh:  Great Western Four+ Doctoral Training Partnership (GW4+ DTP) studentship. Acoustic Emission technology for environmental and engineering health Monitoring of Offshore Renewable Energy. Primary supervisor. 02/2019. 

Faryal Kahlid: University of Exeter. Reliability assessment approach through geospatial mapping for offshore wind energy. Primary supervisor. 06/2019. 

Jack Paterson: Eng.D. student, Industrial Doctorate Centre in Offshore Renewable Energy (IDCORE). Risk management of offshore wind project development.  Joint industry project with EDF. Primary supervisor. 05/2019.

Giovanni Rinaldi: EU OceanNet programme. An integrated operation and maintenance framework for offshore renewabale energy. Joint industry project with Mojo Maritime Ltd, Co-supervisor. 02/2019.

Sunny Shah: Eng.D. student, Industrial Doctorate Centre in Offshore Renewable Energy (IDCORE). De-risking marine energy project development through improved uncertainty analysis.  Joint industry project with Black & Veatch. Primary supervisor. 05/2018.

Leah Ewart; Eng.D. student, Industrial Doctorate Centre in Offshore Renewable Energy (IDCORE). Material selection and structural design for wave energy devices. Joint industry project with Albatern. Co-supervisor. 12/2018.

Steven Allsop: Eng.D. student, Industrial Doctorate Centre in Offshore Renewable Energy (IDCORE). Marine Energy Converters - Reliability & Cost Modelling.  Joint industry project with EDF, Primary supervisor. 03/2018.

Laurie Wilkinson: Eng.D. student, Industrial Doctorate Centre in Offshore Renewable Energy (IDCORE). The use of compliant and continuous structures in the nearshore environment for the purpose of wave energy extraction. Co-supervisor. 10/2017.

Violette Harnois: Analysis of Highly Dynamic Mooring Systems: Peak Mooring Loads in Realistic Sea Conditions. Co-supervisor. 10/2014 

Tessa Gordelier:  EPSRC SuperGen Marine initiative (UKCMER), Enhancing wave energy developments through mooring sytem reliability assessment. Co-supervisor. 07/2016.

Ongoing:

William Jamieson: Eng.D. student, Industrial Doctorate Centre in Offshore Renewable Energy (IDCORE). Material and manufacturing optimisation for CCell device. Joint industry project with Zyba Renewables, Co-supervisor.

Callum Kenny: Eng.D. student, Industrial Doctorate Centre in Offshore Renewable Energy (IDCORE). Sensor arrays and robust data acquisition systems for integrated wave energy arrays. Joint industry project with Albatern, Co-supervisor.

Edward Kay: Eng.D. student, Industrial Doctorate Centre in Offshore Renewable Energy (IDCORE). Optimising O&M strategies for the offshore wind sector using advanced met ocean planning tools. Joint industry project with JBA Consultancy. Co-supervisor.

Marco Sepulveda: Eng.D. student, Industrial Doctorate Centre in Offshore Renewable Energy (IDCORE). Health Monitoring Renewable Energy Systems. Joint industry project with Lloyd’s Register. Co-supervisor.

Alexios Koltsidopoulus Papatzimos: Eng.D. student, Industrial Doctorate Centre in Offshore Renewable Energy (IDCORE). Cost Reduction Opportunities for the Construction and Operation of Offshore Wind Farms. Joint industry project with EDF. Primary supervisor.

 

Education

During his Ph.D., titled "Advancing reliability information for Wave Energy Converters". Philipp contributed to the development and implementation of a large-scale component test rig, the Dynamic Marine Component test facility (DMaC). The test rig is currently being used to verify the performance and reliability of components under dynamic marine load conditions. Typical components include dynamic power cables and mooring systems for floating applications.

He also developed a Bayesian statistical approach to evaluate failure rates in situations of data scarcity and carried out studies for the load and fatigue estimation of marine power cables and mooring components in marine energy applications.

Philipp also holds a first class Dipl. Wi.-Ing. in Energy and Environmental Management (similar to a MEng) form the University of Flensburg, Germany where he studied from 2004-2008. This interdisciplinary course gives him a strong background in economic theory and renewable energy technologies for climate change mitigation, transition pathways as well as energy and emission trading.

Awards, Fellowships
  • Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA)
  • Member of the IMEchE
  • Member of the Verein Deutscher Ingenierue (VDI)
  • Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) award for Best Early-Career Researcher Paper at the 19th Advances in Risk and Reliability Technology Symposium (ARRTS), Stratford upon Avon, 14 April 2011. Presentation slides can be accessed here.
  • The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) Postgraduate Scholarship 2010.  
  • Engineering and Physical Sciences PhD studentship under the SuperGen Marine Consortium.