My name is Juliette Leprou, I am 22 and I am French student of the naval architecture and offshore platform master at ENSTA Bretagne in Brest. I like what is related to renewable energies and specifically in marine environment because I feel concerned by the need of innovative solutions for a better use of the resources of the Earth. I am at Exeter University for a 3-months internship as a researcher assistant of the ResIn (“Resilient Integrated-Coupled FOW platform design methodology”) project. Innovative cylindrical structures would be positioned around the immerged part of the floating turbine and would aim to reduce the external forces from the waves applied on the wind turbine structure. I am working with Edward Mackay on the data from the experiments on porous structures done in the tests tank at Dalian University of Technology in China at the beginning of this year.
I found this internship thanks to the relationship between my shcool and the University of Exeter. Indeed, Professor Lars Johanning teaches at ENSTA Bretagne. The responsible of Renewable Marine Energies in my school advised me to get in touch with him, and after some exchanges of mail and an interview I was offered a good opportunity to work at the University of Exeter.
Regarding my role within the Renewable Marine Research Cluster, I support the analyses of the data, I bring results and material for research. More specifically, I compare, using MATLAB, the force exerted and the transmission coefficient on the porous structures for different characteristics of those ones and for different wave conditions. Having skills in this software is necessary to achieve this task and I improve them a lot during the internship.
This internship taught me how to work with and for a superior. I also learned how to write scientific reports accurately. I had to be very careful about the way I presented my documents, make them clear and be understandable in English, which is not my native language. Moreover, I had never been in a research centre before and this experience is rewarding for me because I discover a new frame of work.
