Finite element analysis of materials for aquaculture net cages. FEA of materials for aquaculture net cages using ANSYS Workbench

Abstract

The number of good sites in less exposed locations for aquaculture farming is limited. Trends are now that the fish cages are increasing in both width and depth as well as more weather-exposed locations are taken into use. As the net cages continues to increase in size, so does the material costs. The design of the sea cages should be modified for safe and reliable use in remote offshore locations. Fish farms located in more exposed areas will be subject to more energetic waves and stronger currents, which will cause large net deformations. This is a challenge as fish welfare depends on a certain minimum volume within the net cage. Changing and maintaining net cages are some of the main expenses for fish farms. If the life time of the net cages are extended by introducing stronger, longer lasting materials, the overall costs of the nets would be reduced.

The traditional nets are produced in nylon, while the promising solid PET-wire has been introduced to the aquaculture industry. In this paper, we introduce polyurethane to the aquaculture net cages, which will be studied together with nylon and PET-wire. The study is carried out using fluid-structure interaction (FSI) simulation, which is coupling of fluid dynamics (CFD) and structure mechanics (FEM). ANSYS® software is employed in the study. We will look at the materials that shows the most promising results for aquaculture purposes.