Ocean: Hydrodynamics and Marine Engineering

Overview

The aim of the 'Ocean: Hydrodynamics and Marine Engineering' is to provide education for students in hydrodynamics for ocean engineering. The study of offshore structures is essential for several areas of application involving some major societal issues:
 

• Low-carbon renewable energy: offshore wind and renewable marine energies are an important source of low-carbon energy. In particular, offshore wind power is currently experiencing major industrial development (with the objective of meeting 25% of annual electricity demand in the European Union in 2050). The design and optimization of platforms as well as the transport and installation of offshore wind turbines are important issues for the sector, which also aims to reduce the cost of the energy produced.
• Offshore gas and oil extraction: with demand still very strong, extraction will continue as energy transition takes hold. The dismantling of offshore platforms at the end of their life is also a challenge for the industry, the marine environment and biodiversity.
• Naval field and maritime transport, which represents 80% of world trade in goods. The decarbonization of this sector is a major challenge for energy transition and the International Maritime Organization aims to curb the sector's emissions by 70% by 2050 (compared to 2008). Many R&D projects are already underway in both research and industry: alternative fuels, wind propulsion, improvement of ship performance (hull, propeller, etc.), changes in operational issues (port logistics, routing, etc.) or optimized management of the energy mix.

The 'Ocean: Hydrodynamics and Marine Engineering' programme will allow students to acquire knowledge on the behaviour of offshore structures and to develop their skills in numerical and experimental hydrodynamics to meet these challenges in industry or research.

Contribution to sustainable development goals

Learn more about Centrale Nantes' commitment to the 17 sustainable development goals

Admission

This specialisation is open to international students selected by our partner institutions via a double degree programme.

Selected students spend two years studying courses from the engineering programme at Centrale Nantes. This usually includes one year of the common-core engineering curriculum followed by one year of specialisation. Double degree students are typically accepted after successfully completing two or three years of higher education in their home institution.

NB Most engineering programme courses are taught in French.
 

► Learn more about the double degree programme

Course Content

2024/25 Academic Year

Autumn Semester	Spring Semester
Marine environment & hydrodynamic loads	Advanced hydrodynamics
Numerical hydrodynamics 1	Shipbuilding & maritime economy
Introduction to hydrodynamics	Fluid-structure interaction
Seakeeping and stability	Offshore wind energy
Numerical hydrodynamics 2	Project 2
Experimental hydrodynamics	Internship
Ship manoeuvrability and moorings
Lifting bodies & propulsion
Project 1

Download syllabus

Examples of projects and internships

Examples of past projects

• Pre-design and characterization of floating offshore wind farms: LHEEA-Centrale Nantes
• Aerodynamics and wind propulsion-sensitivity of interactions: Bureau Veritas Solutions
• Numerical study of the aerodynamic performance of a vertical axis wind turbine: LHEEA-Centrale Nantes
• Structural study of a class 40 sailboat in bio-sourced material: David Raison Ingénierie Navale
• Study of innovative mooring systems for floating wind turbines: Innosea
• Study of a fishing boat with sailing assistance: H&T
• Comparison and verification of a turbine model on OrcaFlex and OpenFast software: Innosea

Examples of past internships

• Aero-elastic calculations with hydrodynamic coupling on offshore wind turbine: Bureau Veritas, France
• Analysis of data at sea with study of the fatigue of an mooring line: University of Exeter, England
• Modeling of wave spectra: DHI, Denmark
• Offshore installation study: Innosea, Scotland
• Optimization of the design of the foundation of a floating wind turbine: EDF-EN, France
• Experimental optimization of the control of a wind thruster for merchant ships: CRAIN, France
• Participation in ship studies: stability, structure, pre-project: H&T, France
• Marine operations and logistics: TOWT (TransOceanic Wind Transport), France

After the specialisation

Industry sectors

• Offshore oil
• Marine Renewable Energies
• Naval engineering
• Maritime transport
• Research (private or public sector)
• Coastal engineering
• Numerical simulation in hydrodynamics and fluid mechanics

Career Prospects

• R&D engineer
• Installation and operations engineer (MRE offshore)
• Project engineer
• Quality engineer
• Production management engineer
• Supply chain manager

Student Feedback

Video of Line, a student in the Ocean specialisation (video in French with English subtitles)

Video transcript

Pitch your specialisation: Line, Ocean specialisation

My name is Line, I'm 22 and I'm a second-year student at Centrale Nantes, following the OCEAN: Hydrodynamics and Marine Engineering specialisation. I'm doing a degree apprenticeship as part of the general engineering programme. Before Centrale Nantes I was studying at Nantes University and I took advantage of the partnership with the university to apply for Centrale Nantes. My apprenticeship is with a naval architecture firm in Nantes. 

20 seconds to pitch you specialisation:

The ocean specialisation is a fairly theoretical course that covers hydrodynamics, but more generally, ocean engineering. It's a fairly multidisciplinary specialisation, with a lot of lectures but also a fair amount of practical work. This means practical work in computer science, but also before Christmas, in the ocean test facilities... So that's pretty cool.

3 reasons to choose this specialisation:

It's a fairly general specialisation, but we're tackling a lot of ocean engineering-related topics, for example, wind power, but also naval engineering. So that gives us a good grounding in ocean engineering, which I find quite rewarding. We have quite a lot of practical work, so that helps us to consolidate theoretical concepts and apply what we've seen in class. Especially as we deal with subjects that are directly linked to current societal issues. We talk about marine renewable energies, but also about the decarbonization of maritime transport, so it's pretty exciting to be studying these subjects.

Why Centrale Nantes?

I joined Centrale Nantes because of the partnership with the university, but also mainly for the Ocean specialisation, because I've been fascinated by the ocean ever since I was a little girl, so it seemed the logical next step for me to go into naval architecture. Centrale Nantes also has a very dynamic student community. You can find clubs of all kinds.

What's next?

As I'm in my second year at Centrale Nantes, next year I’ll be doing my final year here. I'm probably going to specialize in materials, so I'll be more focused on structural calculations, which will provide a logical link with my ocean specialisation this year. After that, I'm thinking of continuing in the naval and architecture field because that's what I enjoy, but I'm also interested in teaching.