Overview

Ajit’s research is focused on the development and deployment of optimization algorithms to aid in the design of offshore renewable energy devices and arrays.

From 2021 he is a Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellow developing new techniques to integrate numerical physics-based models with targeted, dynamic measurement campaigns using autonomous vessels to reduce offshore uncertainty and develop a new framework for spatial data.

While at the University of Exeter he has worked on several projects applying optimization and machine learning techniques including:

• EPSRC SuperGen UK Centre for Marine Energy Research (UKCMER) on the integration of multi-objective optimization approaches in the design of offshore renewable energy devices and subsystems.
• EPSRC Supergen ORE Hub Flexible Fund Project Accounting for Current in Wave Buoy Measurements where the team are developing a novel optimization-based framework for considering the impact of currents on wave buoys
• ERDF funded Marine-I working to support SMEs working in marine engineering in Cornwall
• Interreg France (Channel) England supported EUROSWAC project exploring sea water cooling systems
• EPSRC Supergen ORE Hub Flexible Fund project Machine Learning for Low-Cost Offshore Modelling (MaLCOM) exploring the use of machine learning to improve wave forecasting methods
• ERDF funded Cornwall FLOW Accelerator supporting the development of floating offshore wind in the South-West of the UK
• EPSRC funded Mooring analysis and design for offshore WEC survivability and fatigue (MoorWEC) developing new hydrodynamic approaches for modelling mooring systems
• InnovateUK KTP with Imetrum Ltd.

Prior to joining the University of Exeter, Ajit obtained an EngD in offshore renewable energy through the Industrial Doctoral Centre for Offshore Renewable Energy (IDCORE); a partnership between the Universities of Edinburgh, Exeter, and Strathclyde with the Scottish Association for Marine Science, HR-Wallingford, the ETI, and the EPSRC. His EngD research, completed in partnership with EDF Energy R&D UK Centre, led to the development of a methodology and tool for the optimization of offshore wind farm layouts considering the sites and constraints relevant for future gigawatt scale wind farms in European waters. 

Ajit also holds an MSc in Sustainable Energy Systems from The University of Edinburgh and a BSc in Mechanical Engineering from Columbia University. 

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Publications

_{Copyright Notice: Any articles made available for download are for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the copyright holder.}

| 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 |

2024

• Elobeid M, Pillai AC, Tao L, Ingram D, Hanssen JE, Mayorga P. (2024) Implications of wave–current interaction on the dynamic responses of a floating offshore wind turbine, Ocean Engineering, volume 292, pages 116571-116571, article no. 116571, DOI:10.1016/j.oceaneng.2023.116571. [PDF]

2023

• Gao Y, Zhao C, Johanning L, Pillai A. (2023) AERO-HYDRODYNAMIC STUDIES OF A 15 MW SEMI-SUBMERSIBLE FOWT TO ASSESS THE SUITABILITY OF THE INCLUSION OF A DAMPER SYSTEM, 5th International Offshore Wind Technical Conference, Exeter, United Kingdom, 18th - 19th Dec 2023.
• Vlachogiannis P, Peyrard C, Pillai A, Collu M, Ingram D. (2023) A COMPARISON OF THE INFLUENCE OF USING EMPIRICAL OR MATHEMATICALLY PRE-DEFINED WAVE ENERGY SPECTRA FOR TOWER BASE BENDING FATIGUE CALCULATIONS, 5th International Offshore Wind Technical Conference, Exeter, United Kingdom, 18th - 19th Dec 2023.
• Newman P, Ashton I, Thies P, Johanning L, Berrabah N, Pillai A. (2023) APPLICATION OF UNCREWED SURFACE VESSELS THROUGHOUT THE LIFE SPAN OF FIXED AND FLOATING OFFSHORE WIND FARMS, 5th International Offshore Wind Technical Conference, Exeter, United Kingdom, 18th - 19th Dec 2023.
• Dingle H, Gordelier T, Pillai AC. (2023) The influence of ground conditions on the performance of shared anchor systems for floating offshore wind, 9th International Offshore Site Investigation and Geotechnics Conference - Innovative Geotechnologies for Energy Transition, London, Uk, 12th - 14th Sep 2023.
• Smith K, Davey T, Forehand D, Pillai AC, Tao L, Xiao Q. (2023) Dynamic response of floating offshore renewable energy devices: Sensitivity to mooring rope stiffness, European Wave and Tidal Energy Conference, Bilbao, Spain, 3rd - 7th Sep 2023.
• Gao Y, Zhao C, Johanning L, Pillai AC. (2023) Hydrodynamic studies of a 15 MW semi-submersible FOWT to assess the suitability of the inclusion of a damper system, 15th European Wave and Tidal Energy Conference, Bilbao, 3rd - 7th Sep 2023.
• Kassotakis N, Sarhosis V, Pillai AC, Johanning L. (2023) Three-Dimensional Discrete Element Modelling of Rubble Masonry Structures from Geospatial Data, 9th ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Computational Methods in Structural Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, 12th - 14th Jul 2023.
• Ashton I, Chen J, Steele E, Pillai A. (2023) Surrogate wave modelling to improve operational wave data for offshore wind farms, DOI:10.5194/egusphere-egu23-15848. [PDF]
• Pillai A, Ashton I, Chen J, Steele E. (2023) Comparison of NWP Models Used in Training Surrogate Wave Models, DOI:10.5194/egusphere-egu23-12355. [PDF]
• Kell N, Santibanez-Borda E, Mortsyn T, Lazakis I, Pillai AC. (2023) Methodology to Prepare for UK’s Offshore Wind Contract for Difference Auctions, Applied Energy, DOI:10.1016/j.apenergy.2023.120844.
• Sigalo MB, Das S, Pillai AC, Abusara M. (2023) Real-Time Economic Dispatch of CHP Systems with Battery Energy Storage for Behind-the-Meter Applications, Energies, volume 16, no. 3, pages 1274-1274, DOI:10.3390/en16031274. [PDF]
• Kell NP, van der Veijde AH, Li L, Santibanez-Borda E, Pillai AC. (2023) Simulating Offshore Wind Contract for Difference Auctions to Prepare Bid Strategies, Applied Energy, volume 334, DOI:10.1016/j.apenergy.2023.120645.
• Chen J, Ashton IGC, Steele ECC, Pillai AC. (2023) A Real-Time Spatiotemporal Machine Learning Framework for the Prediction of Nearshore Wave Conditions, Artificial Intelligence for the Earth Systems, volume 2, no. 1, DOI:10.1175/aies-d-22-0033.1.

2022

• Smith R. (2022) A Comparison Between CFD-Based Aerodynamic Models and BEM Theory-Based Models Applied in Coupled Simulations of Floating Offshore Wind Turbines.
• Chen J, Ashton IGC, Pillai AC. (2022) Wave Record Gap-Filling Using a Low-Rank Tensor Completion Model, Volume 8: Ocean Renewable Energy, DOI:10.1115/omae2022-79897.
• Stansby P, Draycott S, Li G, Zhao C, Carpintero Moreno E, Pillai A, Johanning L. (2022) Experimental study of mooring forces on the multi-float WEC M4 in large waves with buoy and elastic cables, Ocean Engineering, DOI:10.1016/j.oceaneng.2022.113049.
• Pillai AC, Gordelier TJ, Thies PR, Cuthill D, Johanning L. (2022) Anchor loads for shallow water mooring of a 15 MW floating wind turbine—Part II: Synthetic and novel mooring systems, Ocean Engineering, volume 266, pages 112619-112619, article no. 112619, DOI:10.1016/j.oceaneng.2022.112619. [PDF]
• Leite AN, Davey T, Dai D, Pillai A, Bruce T. (2022) Cross-Sectorial Learning of Model Testing Methodologies Aligned to Technology TRL, ASME 2022 International Offshore Wind Technical Conference (IOWTC 2022), Boston, Usa, 7th - 8th Dec 2022.
• Kassotakis N, Johanning L, Pillai A, Burn N, Fenney L, Kassotakis N. (2022) Employing vision-based sensing for long-term monitoring, NDT-CE 2022 - The International Symposium on Nondestructive Testing in Civil Engineering, Zurich, 16th - 18th Aug 2022.
• Pillai AC, Gordelier TJ, Thies PR, Dormenval C, Wray B, Parkinson R, Johanning L. (2022) Anchor loads for shallow water mooring of a 15 MW floating wind turbine — Part I: Chain catenary moorings for single and shared anchor scenarios, Ocean Engineering, volume 266, pages 111816-111816, article no. 111816, DOI:10.1016/j.oceaneng.2022.111816. [PDF]
• Kell NP, Santibanez-Borda E, Morstyn T, Lazakis I, Pillai AC. (2022) Dealing With Uncertainty While Developing Bid Strategy For CFD Auctions, IAEE International Conference, Tokyo, Japan, 31st Jul - 4th Aug 2022.
• Draycott S, Pillai AC, Gabl R, Stansby PK, Davey T. (2022) An experimental assessment of the effect of current on wave buoy measurements, Coastal Engineering, volume 174, DOI:10.1016/j.coastaleng.2022.104114.
• Elobeid M, Tao L, Ingram D, Pillai AC, Mayorga P, Hanssen JE. (2022) Hydrodynamic Performance of an Innovative Semisubmersible Platform With Twin Wind Turbines, ASME 41st International Conference on Ocean, Offshore & Arctic Engineering (OMAE2022), Hamburg, Germany, 5th - 9th Jun 2022.
• Chen J, Ashton I, Pillai A. (2022) Wave Record Gap Filling Methodology and Impact on Short-Term Forecasts, ASME 41st International Conference on Ocean, Offshore & Arctic Engineering (OMAE2022), Hamburg, Germany, 5th Jun - 10th Mar 2022.
• Pillai AC, Fox H, Friedrich D, Collu M, Dawood T, Johanning L. (2022) A Review of Predictive and Prescriptive Offshore Wind Farm Operation and Maintenance, Energies, volume 15, article no. 504, DOI:10.3390/en15020504.

2021

• Sigalo MB, Pillai AC, Das S, Abusara M. (2021) An Energy Management System for the Control of Battery Storage in a Grid-Connected Microgrid Using Mixed Integer Linear Programming, Energies, DOI:10.3390/en14196212. [PDF]
• Gabl R, Draycott S, Pillai AC, Davey T. (2021) Experimental Data of Bottom Pressure and Free Surface Elevation including Waves and Current Interaction, Data, DOI:10.3390/data6100103.
• Draycott S, Pillai AC, Gabl R, Davey T. (2021) Wave buoys in current - experimental results and observations, 14th European Wave and Tidal Energy Conference, Plymouth, United Kingdom, 5th - 9th Sep 2021.
• Davey T, Draycott S, Pillai A, Gabl R, Jordan L-B. (2021) Wave buoy in current - experimental data [dataset], DOI:10.7488/ds/3105.
• Chen J, Pillai A, Johanning L, Ashton I. (2021) Using Machine Learning to Derive Spatial Wave Data: A Case Study for a Marine Energy Site, Environmental Modelling and Software, DOI:10.1016/j.envsoft.2021.105066.
• Pillai AC, Davey T, Draycott S. (2021) A framework for processing wave buoy measurements in the presence of current, Applied Ocean Research, volume 106, DOI:10.1016/j.apor.2020.102420.

2019

• Draycott S, Pillai AC, Ingram DM, Johanning L. (2019) Resolving Combined Wave-Current Fields from Measurements using Interior Point Optimization, Coastal Engineering, DOI:10.1016/j.coastaleng.2019.03.008.
• Smith RE, Pillai AC, Tabor G, Thies PR, Johanning L. (2019) Impact of Rotor Misalignment Due to Platform Motions on Floating Offshore Wind Turbine Blade Loads, Proceedings of the International Conference on Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering - OMAE2019, Glasgow, Uk, 9th - 14th Jun 2019.
• Pillai AC, Thies PR, Johanning L. (2019) Impact of Simulation Duration Analysis for Offshore Floating Wind Turbines Using a Coupled FAST-OrcaFlex Model, Proceedings of the International Conference on Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering - OMAE2019, Glasgow, Uk, 9th - 14th Jun 2019.
• Rinaldi G, Pillai AC, Thies PR, Johanning L. (2019) Multi-objective optimization of the operation and maintenance assets of an offshore wind farm using genetic algorithms, Wind Engineering, DOI:10.1177/0309524X19849826. [PDF]

2018

• Pillai AC, Thies PR, Johanning L. (2018) Mooring System Design Optimization Using a Surrogate Assisted Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithm, Engineering Optimization, DOI:10.1080/0305215X.2018.1519559.
• Pillai AC, Thies PR, Johanning L. (2018) Comparing Frequency and Time-Domain Simulations for Geometry Optimization of a Floating Offshore Wind Turbine Mooring System, ASME 2018 International Offshore Wind Technical Conference, San Francisco, Usa, 4th - 7th Nov 2018.
• Giovanni R, Pillai AC, Thies P, Johanning L. (2018) Verification and Benchmarking Methodology for O&M Planning and Optimization Tools in the Offshore Renewable Energy Sector, 37th International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering, Madrid, 17th - 22nd Jun 2018, OMAE 2018, no. OMAE2018-77176.
• Pillai AC, Thies PR, Johanning L. (2018) Optimization of Mooring Line Axial Stiffness Characteristics for Offshore Renewable Energy Applications, The Twenty-eighth (2018) International Ocean and Polar Engineering Conference, Sapporo, Japan, 10th - 15th Jun 2018.
• Pillai AC, Chick J, Khorasanchi M, Johanning L. (2018) Offshore Wind Farm Layout Optimization Using Particle Swarm Optimization, Journal of Ocean Engineering and Marine Energy, volume 4, no. 1, pages 73-88, DOI:10.1007/s40722-018-0108-z.

2017

• Pillai AC, Thies P, Johanning L. (2017) Development of a Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithm for the Design of Offshore Renewable Energy Systems, Advances in Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization, article no. 26/1, DOI:10.1007/978-3-319-67988-4.
• Pillai A, Thies PR, Johanning L. (2017) Multi-Objective Optimization of Mooring Systems for Offshore Renewable Energy, Proceedings of the 12th European Wave and Tidal Energy Conference, Cork, Ireland, 27th Aug - 1st Sep 2017, EWTEC2017, pages 1201-1-1201-8.
• Pillai AC, Thies P, Johanning L. (2017) Development of a Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithm for the Design of Offshore Renewable Energy Systems, 12th World Congress of Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization, Braunschweig; Germany, 5th - 9th Jun 2017, WCSMO12, volume 12, DOI:10.1007/978-3-319-67988-4_149.
• Pillai AC, Chick J, Khorasanchi M, Barbouchi S, Johanning L. (2017) Application of an offshore wind farm layout optimization methodology at Middelgrunden wind farm, Ocean Engineering, volume 139, pages 287-297, DOI:10.1016/j.oceaneng.2017.04.049.

2016

• Pillai AC, Chick J, Johanning L, Khorasanchi M, Barbouchi S. (2016) Comparison of offshore wind farm layout optimization using a genetic algorithm and a particle swarm optimizer, Proceedings of the International Conference on Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering - OMAE, volume 6, DOI:10.1115/OMAE2016-54145.
• Pillai A, Chick J, Johanning L, Khorasanchi M, Pelissier S. (2016) Optimisation of Offshore Wind Farms Using a Genetic Algorithm, International Journal of Offshore and Polar Engineering, volume 26, no. No 3, pages 225-234, DOI:10.17736/ijope.2016.mmr16.

2015

• Pillai AC, Chick J, Johanning L, Khorasanchi M, Pelissier S. (2015) Optimisation of offshore wind farms using a genetic algorithm, Proceedings of the International Offshore and Polar Engineering Conference, volume 2015-January, pages 644-652.
• Pillai AC, Chick J, Johanning L, Khorasanchi M, De Laleu V. (2015) Offshore wind farm electrical cable layout optimization, Engineering Optimization, volume 47, no. 12, pages 1689-1708, DOI:10.1080/0305215X.2014.992892.

2014

• Pillai AC, Chick J, de Laleu V. (2014) Modelling Wind Turbine Wakes at Middelgrunden Wind Farm, European Wind Energy Conference & Exhibition 2014, Barcelona, Spain, 10th - 13th Mar 2014.

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