About THeoREM

A network of test facilities for Hydrodynamics and Marine Renewable Energy

The collective impact of the growth in the Marine Renewable Energy (MRE) sector, the increase in demand for oceanographic instrumentation, and more generally speaking, issues related to naval and offshore sector needs; presents a new challenge: that of developing effective scientific equipment, which is able to meet the needs of research work and foster innovation.

Centrale Nantes, Ifremer, University Gustave Eiffel and the OPEN-C Foundation are taking up this challenge by networking their hydrodynamic and mechanical test facilities, to carry out research activities and collaborative projects with French and international companies. This is how THeoREM came into being.

THeoREM promotes research partnerships between academics, technical centers and industry. Companies can carry out risk-reduction by combining experimental modelling and numerical modelling, before proceeding to pre-commercialisation stage. In addition to the Marine Renewable Energy sector, our experimental resources are intended for the offshore oil and the naval sector.

Test facilities

The THeoREM network includes:

  • Centrale Nantes's ocean test facilities (3 tanks of different capacities)
  • the Ifremer deep water wave tank in Brest and the Boulogne-sur-Mer wave-current flume tank
  • The 5 French offshore test sites:
    • Paimpol-Bréhat, operated by the OPEN-C Foundation
    • Ste Anne du Portzic, an Ifremer site, co-piloted with the OPEN-C Foundation on MRE activities,
    • SEM-REV, owned by Centrale Nantes, operated by the OPEN-C Foundation,
    • SEENEOH, operated by the OPEN-C Foundation,
    • MISTRAL, from Fondation OPEN-C
  • Université Gustave Eiffel's geotechnical centrifuge and cable fatigue test bench
  • And other test facilities (benches, supercomputer...)
     

These facilities can test oceanographic equipment and models of posed, floating or underwater systems, and cover a wide range of applications: sea behaviour studies,  wave/wind and wave/current combined effects, performance measurements for marine renewable energies, immersion constraints, hydrodynamic structures, soil mechanics in marine conditions, mooring lines and umbilicals behaviour, etc.

Published on May 31, 2018 Updated on February 5, 2025