Here are the Winners of Best Student Project 2024

“Very relevant findings, which we are interested in taking forward” was the summary given by Odfjell Oceanwind nominating the winning project.

We congratulate Dan Levy Fløysand and Joel Turøy Midttveit, winners of the best BSc project 2024, with the title “Vortex-Induced Motions of Deepsea Star™ in a towing system”. 

The project was supervised by Gloria Stenfelt and Torstein Frantzen from Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (HVL).  

Even Wollebæk Førrisdal was external supervisor from Odfjell Oceanwind and is impressed with the process and results from the project.  

- We have co-supervised several student projects being performed in the MarinLab at HVL over the past years, but this project stood out in many ways. The students have shown a high degree of independence in developing a new experimental setup. The scientific level is high, and the results will be valuable to take forward, says Even.  

Learned a Lot 

- Having the opportunity to dive deep and research such a project from Odfjell Oceanwind was very motivating, we learned a lot, says the winners Dan and Joel. 

- Vortex-induced motion (VIM) is an important phenomenon, which can affect the integrity and efficiency of floating wind turbines. Being able to analyse when VIM occurs on the structure, what can be done to reduce the impact from VIM and compare with previous studies, was exciting. It was interesting to clearly see with our own eyes how VIM affects the behaviour of the model during the experiments, the winners continue. 

Improving Test Setup 

This is the first time such an experiment has been carried out in the MarinLab. The students had to think in new ways to obtain accurate measurements.  

- This process was demanding, with many "tangles" that had to be resolved but led us to more accurate measurements over a longer interval in the wave tank. This also opened the door for other experimental trials to be carried out in a similar way in the future, the student explains. 

Currently Working on their Master’s Thesis 

Joel: Seeing how ocean currents affect the behaviour of floating constructions inspired me to continue with a master's in Marine Technology at NTNU, specializing in hydrodynamics. 

Dan: After my bachelor's degree, I had the opportunity to work as a summer student at Odfjell Oceanwind, where I gained valuable experience and learned a lot through an exciting project. This experience inspired me to continue developing professionally, and now I have started a master's in Sustainable Energy Technology at HVL in Bergen. I chose this direction because I want to expand my knowledge in sustainable technologies, which is important to me and something I envision working with in the future. 

An Impressive Level  

- It is great to see the high level of the different student projects nominated, says Jon Hellevang R&D Manager in GCE Ocean Technology and Head of the jury.  

The winning project manages to combine theory with practical experiments in an excellent way and scored very high on all our evaluation criteria for the award. Once again congratulation to the winners!