RiverLab

RiverLab was developed by UWA and Woodside to bring together a community of researchers from diverse disciplines to encourage innovative ocean engineering.

Supported by state-of-the-art equipment to facilitate unique field measurements and experiments in the Swan river, RiverLab explores the performance and response of model scale offshore structures, prototype devices and sensors. RiverLab provides research projects for students in the final year of their Masters of Professional Engineering (MPE). Each student works within a multi-disciplinary team of UWA academics and industry partners. At the end of their project, students present their results in a public forum that includes members of industry. 

In 2019, 26 MPE students were involved with RiverLab projects. Industry partners have included Woodside, Arup, Main Roads, WA, and the Western Australian Institute of Sport. 

Current RiverLab Projects

 

Hyperspectral Splashdrone

 

 

Swan River Nurdles

 

 

Assessing novel solutions for coastal flooding and erosion

  

 

Open Water Swimming - from the Swan River to the Olympics

 

 

Development of a high accuracy, low cost water level sensor

 

 

Field investigation of a novel installed fish anchor

  

 

Application of floaters on mitigating snap load

 

 

Biofouling maintenance for the Kwilena monitoring buoy

 

 

Characterising Material Transport from Swan River Sediments

   

 

Predicting underwater visibility in the Swan River

 

 

Geopolymer concrete made of river water and river sand

 

 

Studying floating wave buoys for sensing and renewable energy

  

Past RiverLab Projects

 

Testing stability of sediment at the riverbed

 

 

 

Does a lack of vertical mixing reduce dissolved oxygen concentrations in the Swan River? 

 

 

Turbulence measurements with acoustic doppler current profilers

  

 

Mapping the erosion characteristics of the Swan River

 

Testing of an unmanned floater concept

  
 

 

Developing active suction anchors for floating renewable energy converters

 

 

Trials of free drifting FPSOs in the Swan River

 

 

Understanding the impact of bivalves on marine infrastructure

 

 

Open Water Swimming in the Swan River

 

 

Assessing novel nature-based solutions for coastal defense

 

 

Repair and Strengthening of damaged structural members in offshore facilities using fibre reinforced polymers

 

 

Field performance of a novel dynamically installed anchor in the Swan River

 

 

Testing of an innovative self-installing spar structure

 

 

Research on composite materials for offshore applications

 

 

Damage detection of fixed offshore platforms

 

 

Development of a freefall cone penetrometer for offshore site investigation

 

 

Dynamic response of floating vessels

 

 

Effect of surface waves on overarm swimming

 

 

Exploring the riverbed strength of the Swan River

 

 

Forecasting the Effects of Climate Change on the Swan-Canning Estuary

 

 

Identification of controls on the metabolism of the Swan-Canning Estuary using high-frequency data and numerical modelling

 

 

Interpretation of a new generation free fall penetrometer

 

 

Measuring currents and turbulence in the Swan River

 

 

Measuring surface waves on the Swan River

 

 

Measuring noise and light in the Swan River

 

 

Novel coatings for subsea structures

 

 

Modelling the development of a subsea shuttle

 

 

Mooring of wave energy system using suction caisson

 

 

Studying mooring of wave energy systems using scaled field trials

 

 

Testing of a self-installing Spar platform