
Symbiotic Engineering & Analysis (SEA) Lab at University of Michigan
Facility Overview
Symbiotic Engineering and Analysis (SEA) Lab at the University of Michigan is a numerical modeling and systems analysis facility specializing in marine renewable energy and ocean-based economy applications. The lab provides advanced expertise in hydrodynamic modeling, wave energy converter (WEC) design and optimization, multidisciplinary design optimization (MDO), control co-design, marine spatial planning, hybrid renewable energy systems, desalination, autonomous marine systems, and techno-economic/environmental analysis. Leveraging high-performance computing resources and a suite of open-source tools (including MDOcean, MarineHydro.jl, OpenFLASH, and WEC-DECIDER) the facility supports the design, evaluation, and optimization of marine energy technologies and integrated offshore systems. The SEA Lab combines expertise in hydrodynamics, controls, structures, economics, and systems engineering to help accelerate the development, deployment, and commercialization of innovative marine energy solutions.




















Facility Capabilities
• Cost and Performance modeling • Physical Modeling • Proposal & Pitch Consultation • Resource assessment and characterization • Technical design • Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling • Control Systems engineering support • Cost modeling • Extreme event modeling • Finite element analysis (FEA) modeling • Fluid-structure interaction modeling • LCOE modeling • Marine energy education • Mooring dynamics simulation • Operational modeling • Performance metrics analysis • Power performance modeling • Smooth particle hydrodynamics • Storytelling • Technology Performance Level assessment • WEC hydrodynamics • Wave resource characterization • Wave, bathymetry and site data analysis • Array Integration Modeling • High-fidelity CFD
7 Facility Capabilities
- Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
- Environmental Modeling
- Extreme Event Identification
- Finite Element Analysis (FEA)
- Performance Assessment
- Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH)
- Turbine & WEC Hydrodynamics























































