No question where the founders plan to test their latest invention: on a “farming platform” where the net is attached between the posts that hold it in place. Now they’re hoping for promising results in the Ocean Basin Laboratory, so that they can execute their dream of the new cage.
“Several years ago, we tested a new cage system here, in parallel with running the same tests on an identical full-scale facility without fish. We got exactly the same results as here in the Ocean Basin Lab at SINTEF Ocean,” says Trond Lysklætt, a partner in Farmocean-subsea.
However, before anyone can set up an installation that is more than 135 meters wide by 135 meters long out at sea, testing whether the all the calculations and drawings can actually withstand the rough weather conditions that prevail in the open ocean is a good idea.
Model tests in rough waves
What the researchers are investigating in the tests are the forces that impact the net against the supporting structure, or legs if you like, in different sea conditions.
The fixed and submersible cage is modelled on jack-up technology from the oil industry. In bad weather, the platform deck is raised above the waves, while the net is lowered to protect the fish. Finding out how the net behaves at different wave heights under varying conditions is critical.
“The setup is a scaled-down model that is 35 times smaller than full-scale, the water depth is 130 metres and the net has been tested at different depths with different wave directions, says SINTEF researcher Yngve Lilleeng Jenssen.
In this video you can see how the cage performed in the tests at SINTEF.
