Thomas Adcock MEng, DPhil, FIMarEST, CEng

I went up to read engineering science at St. Peter’s College, Oxford in 2001. I took the civil and mechanical engineering options and spent my vacations working for Halcrow at Burderop Park in Wiltshire in their ports and dockyards group.

I then completed a D.Phil., also at the University of Oxford, under Paul Taylor for which I moved to New College, where I was MCR president. After a short post-doc in Oxford, I moved to London to work in engineering consultancy as a metocean engineer for GL Noble Denton. I returned to Oxford to do a post-doc in tidal stream energy. Following a short spell as a Departmental Lecturer I was appointed to a University Lectureship (later re-titled as an Associate Professorship) in October 2012 with an official fellowship at St Peter’s College. I got the title Professor of Engineering Science in 2022. 

In the Department I served as Director of Third Year Studies and then did a three year stint as Associate Head (Teaching) during the COVID pandemic. I have held various minor officerships in college including Fellow for Website and IT as well as Fellow for Access. I currently chair "SUTGEF" a special interest group of the Society for Underwater Technology. I am serving as Senior Proctor for the 2024/25 Proctorial year. In this capacity I serve on Council and well over 50 other University committees, am a Delegate of OUP and sit on the finance committee (effectively the board), do ceremonial events like graduations, and am responsible for student discipline.

In 2024 I was awarded a divisional teaching award for setting up a fully funded residential in St Peter's for prospective students from backgrounds under-represented in Oxford, for editing the engineering formula book (known as HLT), and for my tutoring and pastoral care of students.

The research group looks at how engineers understand the ocean environment and how infrastructure interacts with this. We seek to understand ocean hydrodynamics for applications such as marine energy.

The group uses a combination of analytical, numerical (both machine learning and physics based) and experimental methods. We place a lot of emphasis on the analysis of field data from the ocean and into developing data analysis techniques.

I collaborate with academics around the world. My "second academic home" is the University of Western Australia.

My research team work on a broad range of topics that include those below (see also the Research Group page for ongoing doctoral projects):

Statistics and non-linear physics of extreme waves (rogue waves)

In many areas around the world wind generated waves are the dominant environmental load. Around extreme wave events non-linear physics plays a significant role changing the shape and dynamics of extreme events. We work on trying to understand what happens when waves get large and ultimately how that modifies the statistics. Of particular interest at present is thinking about sea-states which are not in equilibrium and how this generates an excess of rogue waves.

Wave structure interaction

Waves will interact with structures in the ocean. These interactions are often very complex—but engineers need simple ways of modelling these. A major focus is on offshore wind turbines, where the non-linearity of the wave force is often neglected despite this occurring at the typical natural frequency of the structure. The group is also interested in the movement of debris (particularly plastics) across the ocean due to waves.

Resource assessment of tidal stream energy

Tidal stream turbines extract energy from fast flowing tidal currents. Unlike other renewables it is inherently predictable although part of the group's effort is developing the tools to turn the theoretical predictability into reality. We also look at trying to understand the magnitude of the tidal resource which is perhaps the biggest open question in tidal energy.

Storm surges

Storm surges are atmospheric disturbances to the sea level and can lead to flooding and damage to low lying coastal areas. Our work seeks to understand these better through physical modelling and analysis of field data.

Fun stuff

We also (particularly through final year undergraduate projects) do some more frivolous things such as looking at historical engineering projects (I have a particular interest in the Mulberry Harbours used in the Second World War) and turning kayaks into "flyaks" (our prototype can be seen in action here).

 

Photos from 2023 research group "away day" in Wytham Woods.

Post-docs

• Dr Tianning Tang
• Dr Jialun Chen
• Dr Thobani Hlophe

Graduate students

• Lidan Shi (St Catherine's College) — co-supervised with Emma Edwards. Lidan is working on analysis of experimental data of floating wind turbines.
• Caleb McKenna (St Edmund Hall) — co-supervised with Emma Edwards. Caleb is working on non-linear wave/structure interactions of floating wind turbines.
• Jackson Hardin (Oriel College) — co-supervised with Emma Edwards and Federico Zilic de Arcos. Jackson will work on floating wind focussing on how the resource differs from that of fixed wind.
• Xinyu Liu (St Peter's College) — co-supervised with Wouter Mostert and Tianning Tang. Xinyu works on distinguishing strong non-linearity (e.g. wave breaking) from weak non-linearity (e.g. wave-wave interactions) analytically and numerically.
• Thomas Monahan (St Cross College) — co-supervised with Tianning Tang and Steve Roberts. Thomas works on the prediction of tidal currents using machine learning. A particular focus is adapting Munk & Cartwright’s response method to incorporate machine learning to the coefficients with the aim of enabling very short time series to be used for prediction relative to those needed by conventional harmonic analysis.
• Kaitao Tang (Reuben College) — co-supervised with Wouter Mostert. Kaitao (David) looks at the breakup of the droplets formed when wave break. The work is primarily numerical using Basilisk.
• Yuxuan Liu (Green Templeton College) — co-supervised with Ton van den Bremer and Debbie Eeltink. Yuxuan looks at wave breaking and particularly how this can be captured in potential flow models where it cannot be simulated explicitly. To do this he is using machine learning to capture the wave breaking process based on data from experiments in Shanghai Jiao Tong university and numerical simulations in Basilisk.
• Panit Potisomporn (Kellogg College)  — co-supervised with Chris Vogel. Panit investigates the wind energy resource, particularly focusing on characterising low energy events in the UK. The work is based on carefully calibrated model data. A particular focus is how spatial variations in wind can be exploited to smooth the power produced.
• Gerry Ryan (St Edmund Hall) — co-supervised with Ross McAdam (now at Ørsted). Gerry works with our in-house aero-elastic model of an offshore wind turbine OxDyn. He looks at how advanced geotechnical, and advanced wave models can impact the design of fixed offshore wind turbines with monopile foundations.

Alumni

• Dr Misha Patel (DPhil, St Catherine's College)
• Dr Qian Xiao (DPhil, Somerville College)
• Eric Chen (Postgraduate visitor from University of Western Australia)
• Zhenhao Li (MSc by research, St Cross College)
• Zhaoxian Lin (MSc by research, Somerville College)
• Dr Dylan Barratt (DPhil., St Cross College)
• Dr Ahmad Firdaus (DPhil., St Anne's College)
• Dr Qian Ma (DPhil, St Anne's College)
• Dr Tianning Tang (DPhil, Somerville College)
• Dr Yan Li (Post-doc)
• Dr Muge Kueli (Post-doc)
• Dr Vassilios Dallas (Post-doc)
• Misha Patel (Intern)
• Magnus Gregory (Undergraduate intern, Lady Margaret Hall)
• Christy Nganjimi (Undergraduate intern, St Peter's College)
• Dr Xingya Feng (Post-doc)
• Dr Lei Chen (DPhil, St Anne's College)
• Guy McCauley (Postgraduate visitor from University of Western Australia)
• Emmanuel Oladokun (Undergraduate intern, St Peter's College)
• Tuo Wang (M.Sc by research student, St Edmund Hall)
• Dr Dritpa Sarkar (postdoc)
• Dr Paul Bonar (PhD, University of Edinburgh) — co-supervised with Alistair Borthwick and Venki Venugopal; postdoc)
• Amin Ghadirian (Graduate visitor from Danish Technical University)
• Chanshu Gao (M.Sc by research student, Mansfield College — thesis)
• Josh Wagner (Graduate visitor from Texas A&M)
• Jordan Wagner (Graduate visitor from Texas A&M)
• Dr Isabel García-Hermosa (post-doc)
• Rob Weston (Undergraduate intern, Keble)
• Dr Sena Serhadlıoğlu (D.Phil. student, St Edmund Hall)

I am always looking for students to join the team primarily to work towards doctoral degrees although I also consider applications for the MSc by research programme (see here for information on the programmes). I am primarily looking students who are interested in ocean engineering and marine energy and has a strong background in engineering, physics or maths.

Students should contact me by email at an early stage before putting in an application. Please note that the deadline to be considered for funding is usually around the start of December each year.

Journal papers

2024

H. Ding, G. Zhao, T. Tang, P.H. Taylor, T.A.A. Adcock, S. Dai, D. Ning, L. Chen, J. Li, R. Wang & J. Zang (2024) Experimental Investigation of Nonlinear Forces on a Monopile Offshore Wind Turbine Foundation Under Directionally Spread waves, accepted, Journal of Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering.

Y. Liu, T.S. van den Bremer & T.A.A. Adcock (2024) Numerical simulation of deep-water wave breaking using RANS: comparison with experiments, European Journal of Mechanics / B Fluids, 108, 211-225.

Z. Zhang, T. Tang, X. Zheng, W. Xu, L. Zhang, J. Lee, T. Adcock, J.P. Monty, A. Slunyaev, T.S. Van Den Bremer & Y. Li (2024) A laboratory study of wind impact on steep unidirectional waves in a long tank, Physical Review Fluids, 9, 104801.

M.D. Patel, A.M.S. Smyth, A. Angeloudis & T.A.A. Adcock (2024) Implementation of Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Tidal Arrays in the Inner Sound of the Pentland Firth, Journal of Ocean Engineering and Marine Energy.

T. Tang, H. Ding, S. Dai, P.H. Taylor, J. Zang & T.A.A. Adcock (2024) An experimental study of a quasi-impulsive backwards wave force associated with secondary load cycle on a vertical cylinder, accepted Journal of Fluid Mechanics 994 A9.

Y. Liu, D. Eeltink, T.S. van den Bremer & T.A.A. Adcock (2024) A machine learning architecture for including wave breaking in envelope-type wave models, Ocean Engineering, 305, 118009.

K. Tang, T.A.A. Adcock & W. Mostert (2024) Fragmentation of Colliding Liquid Rims, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 987, A18.

P.H. Taylor, T. Tang, T.A.A. Adcock & J.Zang (2024) Transformed-FNV: wave forces on a vertical cylinder – a free-surface formulation, Coastal Engineering, 189, 104454.

Q. Xiao, R.Calvert, S.Q. Yan, T.A.A. Adcock & T.S. van den Bremer (2024) Surface gravity wave-induced drift of floating objects in the diffraction regime, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 980:A27.

T. Tang, H. Ding, S. Dai, X. Chen, P.H. Taylor, J. Zang and T.A.A. Adcock (2024) Data Informed Model Test Design With Machine Learning—an Example in Nonlinear Wave Load on a Vertical Cylinder, Journal of Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering, 146(2): 021204.

P. Potisomporn, T.A.A. Adcock and C.R. Vogel (2024) Extreme value analysis of wind droughts in Great Britain, Renewable Energy, 221, 119847.

G.V. Ryan, T.A.A. Adcock and R.A. McAdam (2024) Influence of soil plasticity models on offshore wind turbine response, Wind Energy, 27, 131-151.

2023

T. Tang, G. Ryan, H. Ding, X. Chen, J. Zang, P.H. Taylor & T.A.A. Adcock (2023) A new Gaussian Process based model for non-linear wave loading on vertical cylinders, Coastal Engineering, 188, 104427.

P. Potisomporn, T.A.A. Adcock and C.R. Vogel (2023) Evaluating ERA5 Reanalysis Predictions of Low Wind Speed Events Around the UK, Energy Reports, 10, 4781-4790.

T. Tang, C. Moss, S. Draycott, H.B. Bingham, T.S. van den Bremer, Y. Li and T.A.A. Adcock (2023) The influence of directional spreading on rogue waves triggered by abrupt depth transitions, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 972, R2.

D. Mj, M.L. McAllister, H. Bredmose, , T.A.A. Adcock and P.H. Taylor (2023) Harmonic structure of wave loads on a surface piercing column in directionally spread and unidirectional random seas, Journal of Ocean Engineering and Marine Energy, 9, 415–433.

T. Monahan, T. Tang and T.A.A. Adcock (2023) A Hybrid Model for Online Short-Term Tidal Energy Forecasting, Applied Ocean Research, 137, 103596.

Y. Liu, D. Eeltink, T. Tang, D. Barratt, Y. Li, T.A.A. Adcock and T.S. van den Bremer (2023) Comparison of breaking models in envelope-based surface gravity wave evolution equations, Physical Review Fluids, 8, 054803.

K. Tang, T.A.A. Adcock and W. Mostert (2023) Bag Film Breakup of Droplets in Uniform Airflows, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 970, A9.

Y. Zhou, L. Chen, J. Zhao, X. Liu, X, Ye, F. Wang, T.A.A. Adcock and D. Ning (2023) Power and dynamic performance of a floating multi-functional platform: An experimental study. Energy, 285, 129367.

2022

D. Barratt, T.S. van den Bremer and T.A.A. Adcock (2022) The impact of the spectral tail on the evolution of the kurtosis of random seas, Journal of Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering, 144(6): 061702.

S. Draycott, Y. Li, P.K. Stansby, T.A.A. Adcock and T.S. van den Bremer (2022) Harmonic-induced wave breaking due to abrupt depth transitions: an experimental and numerical study, Coastal Engineering, 171, 104041.

Z. Li., T. Tang, Y. Li, S. Draycott. T.S. van den Bremer and T.A.A. Adcock (2022) Wave loads on ocean infrastructure increase as a result of waves passing over abrupt depth transitions, Journal of Ocean Engineering and Marine Energy.

M.L. McAllister, S. Draycott, T. Davey, Y. Yang, T.A.A. Adcock, S-J. Liao and T.S.van den Bremer (2022) Wave breaking and jet fotmation on axisymmetric surface gravity waves, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 935, A5.

T. Tang and T.A.A. Adcock (2022) Estimating space-time wave statistics using a sequential sampling method and Gaussian process regression, Applied Ocean Research, 122, 103127.

T. Tang and T.A.A. Adcock (2022) A reduced order model for space-time wave statistics using probabilistic decomposition-synthesis method, Ocean Engineering, 259, 111860.

T. Tang, D. Barratt, Bingham, H.B., van den Bremer, T.S. & T.A.A. Adcock (2022) The impact of removing the high-frequency spectral tail on rogue wave statistics, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 953, A9..

2021

T.A.A. Adcock, S. Draper, R.H.J. Willden and C.R. Vogel (2021) The Fluid Mechanics of Tidal Stream Energy Conversion, Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics, 53(1).

D. Barratt, H.B. Bingham, P.H. Taylor , T.S. van den Bremer and T.A.A. Adcock (2021) Rapid spectral evolution of steep surface wave groups with directional spreading, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 907, A30.

D. Barratt, T.S. van den Bremer and T.A.A. Adcock (2021) MNLS Simulations of Surface Wave Groups with Directional Spreading in Deep and Finite Depth Waters, Journal of Ocean Engineering and Marine Energy, 7, 261-275.

P.A.J. Bonar, C.J. FitzGerald, Z. Lin, T.S. van den Bremer, T.A.A. Adcock and A.G.L. Borthwick (2021) Anomalous wave statistics following sudden depth transitions: Application of an alternative Boussinesq-type formulation, Journal of Ocean Engineering and Marine Energy, 7, 145-155.

L. Chen, P.A.J. Bonar, C.R. Vogel and T.A.A. Adcock (2021) A note on the effects of local blockage and dynamic tuning on tidal turbine performance,  Journal of Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering, 143(1): 012001.

D. Dehtyriov,  A.M. Schnabl,  C.R. Vogel, S. Draper, T.A.A Adcock & R.H.J. Willden (2021) Fractal-like actuator disc theory for optimal energy extraction,  Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 927, A40.

Y. Li, S. Draycott, T.A.A. Adcock and T.S. van den Bremer (2021) Surface wavepackets subject to an abrupt depth change. Part II: experimental analysis, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 915, A72.

Y. Li, Y. Zheng, Z. Lin, T.A.A. Adcock and T.S. van den Bremer (2021) Surface wavepackets subject to an abrupt depth change. Part I: second-order theory, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 915, A71.

Y. Li, S. Draycott Y. Zheng, Z. Lin, T.A.A. Adcock and T.S. van den Bremer (2021) Why rogue waves occur atop abrupt depth transitions, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 919, R5.

Z. Lin, T.A.A Adcock and M.L. McAllister (2021) Estimating Ocean Wave Directional Spreading Using Wave Following Buoys: a Comparison of Experimental Buoy and Gauge Data, Journal of Ocean Engineering and Marine Energy, 8, 83-97.

T. Tang, W. Xu, D. Barratt, H.B. Bingham, Y. Li, P.H. Taylor, T.S. van den Bremer and T.A.A. Adcock (2021) Spatial evolution of the kurtosis of steep unidirectional random waves, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 908, A3.

T. Tang and T.A.A. Adcock (2021) The influence of finite depth on the evolution of extreme wave statistics in numerical wave tanks, Coastal Engineering, 166, 103870.

T. Tang and T.A.A. Adcock (2021) Data driven analysis of extreme wave statistics over an area, Applied Ocean Research, 115 102809.

2020

D. Barratt, H.B. Bingham and T.A.A. Adcock (2020) Nonlinear Evolution of a Steep, Focusing Wave Group in Deep Water Simulated with OceanWave3D, Journal of Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering, 142(2): 021201.

X. Feng, P.H. Taylor, S. Dai, A.H. Day, R.H.J. Willden and T.A.A. Adcock (2020) Experimental investigation of higher harmonic wave loads and moments on a vertical cylinder by a phase-manipulation method, Coastal Engineering, 160, 103747.

A.M. Firdaus, G.T. Houlsby and T.A.A. Adcock (2020)  Tidal Energy Resource in Larantuka Straits, Indonesia, Proceedings of the Institute of Civil Engineers—Energy, 173(2), 81-92.

M.J. Kreitmair, T.A.A. Adcock, A.G.L. Borthwick, S. Draper and T.S. van den Bremer (2020) The effect of bed roughness uncertainty on power estimates for the Pentland Firth. Royal Society Open Science 7(1).

Q. Ma and T.A.A. Adcock (2020) Modification of tidal resonance in the Severn Estuary by a barrage and lagoon, in press, Journal of Ocean Engineering and Marine Energy.

Y. Zheng, Z. Lin., Y. Li, T.A.A.Adcock, Y. Li and T.S. van den Bremer (2020) Fully non-linear simulations of unidirectional extreme waves provoked by strong depth transitions: the effect of slope, Physical Review Fluids, 5, 064804.

2019

P.A.J. Bonar, L. Chen, A.M. Schnabl, V. Venugopal, A.G.L. Borthwick and T.A.A. Adcock (2019) On the arrangement of tidal turbines in rough and oscillatory channel flow, Journal of Fluid Mechanics 865 790-810.

L. Chen, P.A.J. Bonar, C.R. Vogel and T.A.A. Adcock (2019) A note on the tuning of tidal turbines in channels, Journal of Ocean Engineering and Marine Energy, 5(1) 85-98.

Q. Ma, T. M. Moreira and T.A.A. Adcock (2019) The impact of a tidal barrage on coastal flooding due to storm surge in the Severn Estuary,, Journal of Ocean Engineering and Marine Energy, 5, 217–226.

M.L. McAllister, S. Draycott, T.A.A. Adcock, P.H. Taylor and T.S. Van Den Bremer (2019) Laboratory recreation of the Draupner wave and the role of breaking in crossing seas, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 860, 767-786.

M.L. McAllister., T.S. Van Den Bremer., T.A.A. Adcock & P.H. Taylor (2019) A Note on the Second-order Contribution to Extreme Waves Generated During Hurricanes, Journal of Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering, 141(4), 041102.

D. Sarkar, M.A. Osborne and T.A.A. Adcock (2019) Spatio-temporal prediction of tidal currents using Gaussian processes, Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 124.

T. Tang, P.S. Tromans and T.A.A. Adcock (2019) Field measurement of non-linear changes to large gravity wave-groups, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 873, 1158–1178.

T. Wang and T.A.A. Adcock (2019) Combined Power and Thrust Capping in the Design of Tidal Turbine Farms,  Renewable Energy 133, 1247-1256..

2018

P.A.J. Bonar, T.A.A. Adcock, V. Venugopal, A.G.L. Borthwick (2018) Performance of non-uniform tidal turbine arrays in uniform flow, Journal of Ocean Engineering and Marine Energy, 4(3), 231-241.

P.A.J. Bonar, A.M. Schnabl, W-K. Lee and T.A.A. Adcock (2018) Assessment of the Malaysian tidal stream energy resource using an upper bound approach, Journal of Ocean Engineering and Marine Energy 4(2) 99-109.

M.L. McAllister, T.A.A. Adocck, P.H. Taylor and T.S. Van Den Bremer (2018) The set-down and set-up of directionally spread and crossing surface gravity wave groups, Journal of Fluid Mechanics 835 131-169.

S.P. Neill, A. Angeloudis, P.E. Robins, I. Walkington, S.L. Ward, I. Masters, M.J. Lewis, M. Piano, A. Avdis, M.D. Piggott , G. Aggidis, P. Evans, T.A.A. Adocck, T.A.A., A. Zidonis, R. Ahmadian and R. Falconer (2018) Tidal range energy resource and optimization — past perspectives and future challenges, Renewable Energy 127 763-778.

D. Sarkar, M.A. Osborne and T.A.A. Adcock (2018) Prediction of tidal currents using Bayesian machine learning, Ocean Engineering, 58, 221-231.

2017

T.A.A. Adcock (2017) A note on the set-up under the Draupner wave, Journal of Ocean Engineering and Marine Energy 3(1), 89-94.

C. Gao and T.A.A. Adcock (2017) On the tidal resonance in the Bristol Channel, International Journal of Offshore and Polar Engineering 27(2) 177-183.

Z. Jackson, S. Grey, T.A.A. Adcock, P.H. Taylor and J.R. Bidlot (2017) The waves at the Mulberry Harbours, Journal of Ocean Engineering and Marine Energy 3(3) 285-292.

2016

T.A.A. Adcock and P.H. Taylor (2016) Fast and local non-linear evolution of steep wave-groups on deep water: A comparison of approximate models to fully non-linear simulations, Physics of Fluids, 28, 016601.

T.A.A. Adcock and P.H. Taylor (2016) Non-linear evolution of uni-directional focussed wave-groups on a deep water: A comparison of models, Applied Ocean Research, 59 147-152.

T.A.A. Adcock, P.H. Taylor and S. Draper (2016) On the shape of large wave-groups on deep water — the influence of bandwidth and spreading, 28 106601, Physics of Fluids.

H. Bredmose, S. Schløera, T.J. Larsen, A. Ghadirian, H.B. Bingham, O. Lindberg, E.D. Christensen, M.H. Vested, A. Engsig-Karup, O.S. Petersen, H.F. Hansen, M. Dixen, P.H. Taylor, T.A.A. Adcock, C. Obhrai, O.T. Gudmestad, N.J. Tarp-Johansen, C.P. Meyer, J.R. Krokstad, L. Suja-Thauvin and T.D. Hanson (2016) DeRisk—Accurate prediction of ULS wave loads. Outlook and first results, Energy Procedia, 94, 379-387.

S. Draper, T. Nishino, T.A.A. Adcock and P.H. Taylor (2016) Performance of an ideal turbine in an inviscid shear flow, Journal of Fluid Mechanics 796, 86- 112.

2015

T.A.A. Adcock, P.H. Taylor and S. Draper (2015) Non-linear dynamics of wave-groups in random seas: Unexpected walls of water in the open ocean, Proceedings of the Royal Society A 471(2184).

T.A.A. Adcock, S. Draper and T. Nishino (2015) Tidal power generation — a review of hydrodynamic modelling. Proceedings of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, Part A: Journal of Power and Energy 229(7) 755–771.Waves in Perth

T.A.A. Adcock & S. Draper (2015) A note on the variation in shape of linear rogue waves in the ocean, Underwater Technology, 33(2), 1-6.

T.A.A. Adcock (2015) On tidal stream turbines placed off headlands. Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, 7, 061706.

2014

T.A.A. Adcock and P.H. Taylor (2014) The physics of anomalous ("rogue") ocean waves, Reports on Progress in Physics 77 105901.

T.A.A. Adcock, S. Draper, G.T. Houlsby, A.G.L. Borthwick and S.Serhadlıoğlu (2014) Tidal stream power in the Pentland Firth — long-term variability, multiple constituents and capacity factor, Proceedings of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, Part A: Journal of Power and Energy 228(8) 854–861.

S. Draper, T.A.A. Adcock, A.G.L. Borthwick and G.T. Houlsby (2014) A note on the power potential of tidal currents in channels, International Journal of Marine Energy 6 1-17.

R. Vennell and T.A.A. Adcock (2014) Energy Storage Inherent in Large Tidal Turbine Farms, Proceedings of Royal Society A 20130580.Drone

T.A.A. Adcock and S. Draper (2014) Power extraction from tidal channels — multiple tidal constituents, compound tides and overtides, Renewable Energy 63 797-806.

S. Draper, T.A.A. Adcock, A.G.L. Borthwick and G.T. Houlsby (2014) An Electrical Analogy for the Pentland Firth Tidal Stream Power Resource, Proceedings of Royal Society A 470(2161) 20130207.

S. Draper, T.A.A. Adcock, A.G.L. Borthwick and G.T. Houlsby (2014) Estimate of the Extractable Pentland Firth Tidal Stream Power Resource, Renewable Energy 63 650-657.

2013

S. Serhadlıoğlu, T.A.A. Adcock, G.T. Houlsby, S. Draper and A.G.L. Borthwick (2013) Tidal Stream Energy Resource Assessment of the Anglesey Skerries, International Journal of Marine Energy 3-4 e98-e111.

T.A.A. Adcock (2013) Unidirectional power extraction from a channel connecting a bay to the open ocean, Proceedings of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, Part A: Journal of Power and Energy 227(8) 826-832.Monterrey beach

T.A.A. Adcock, S. Draper, G.T. Houlsby, A.G.L. Borthwick and S. Serhadlıoğlu (2013) The available power from tidal stream turbines in the Pentland Firth. Proceedings of Royal Society A 469(2157) 20130072.

2012

T.A.A. Adcock, R.H.Gibbs and P.H. Taylor (2012) The non-linear evolution and approximate scaling of directionally spread wave-groups on deep water. Proceedings of Royal Society A. 468 2704-2721.

2011

T.A.A. Adcock, P.H. Taylor, S. Yan, Q.W. Ma and P.A.E.M. Janssen (2011) Did the Draupner wave occur in a crossing sea? Proceedings of Royal Society A, 467 3004-3021.

R.R. Simmons, A.H. Brampton, T.A.A. Adcock, R. Briganti, B. Carroll, F. Milne and O. Watson (2011) Young Coastal Scientists and Engineers Conference 2010. Proceedings of the Institute of Civil Engineers, Journal of Maritime Engineering. 164 1:3-13.

T.A.A. Adcock and P.H. Taylor (2011) Energy Input Amplifies Nonlinear Dynamics of Deep Water Wave Groups. International Journal of Offshore and Polar Engineering 21 1:8-12.

2009

T.A.A. Adcock and P.H. Taylor (2009) Estimating ocean wave directional spreading from an Eulerian surface elevation time-history. Proceedings of Royal Society A, 465:3361-3381.

T.A.A. Adcock and P.H. Taylor (2009) Focusing of unidirectional wave-groups on deep water, an approximate NLS-equation based model. Proceedings of Royal Society A, 465:3083- 3102.

Conference papers and workshop abstracts

2024

K. Tang, T. Adcock, W. Mostert. Effects of Gravity on the Liquid Rim Splashing Behaviour. The 26th International Congress of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, The International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, Aug 2024, Daegu (Korea), South Korea. hal-04686348

G.V. Ryan, R.A. McAdam, and T.A.A. Adcock (2024) Influence of Frequency Dependent Wave Spreading on Offshore Wind Turbine Design, 43rd International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering (OMAE2024), Singapore.

H. Ding, J. Zang, G. Zhao, T. Tang, P.H. Taylor, T.A.A. Adcock, S. Dai, D. Ning, L. Chen, J. Li, and R. Wang (2024) Experimental Investigation of Nonlinear Forces on a Monopile Offshore Wind Turbine Foundation Under Directionally Spread Waves, 43rd International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering (OMAE2024), Singapore.

G.V. Ryan, R.A. McAdam and T.A.A. Adccok (2024) Influence of wave spreading on offshore wind turbine design: IEA 15-MW scenario, TORQUE2024, Florence, Italy.

T. Monahan, T. Tang, S. Roberts and T.A.A. Adccok (2024) A framework for early-stage coastal and estuarine tidal and mean sea surface correction from the Surface Water Ocean Topography mission, EGU2024, Vienna.

T. Tang, Y. Chen, P. Taylor and T.A.A. Adcock (2024) Discovering equations that govern wave breaking evolution using scientific machine learning, EGU2024, Vienna.

Q. Xiao, M.L. McAllister, T.A.A. Adocck and T.S. van den Bremer (2024) Laboratory study of wave-induced drift of large floating objects, 39th International Workshop on Water Waves and Floating Bodies, St Andrews, Scotland.

H. Ding, J. Zang, T. Tang, P.H. Taylor, T.A.A.Adcock, G. Zhao and S. Dai (2024) An investigation of high-order harmonics in the pressure field around a vertical cylinder in steep wave conditions, 39th International Workshop on Water Waves and Floating Bodies, St Andrews, Scotland.

T. Monahan,  T Tang, S. Roberts, S. and T.A.A. Adcock (2024) Enhancing tidal analysis and prediction using physics informed machine learning, Young Coastal Scientists and Engineers Conference 2024, Wallingford UK.

M.D. Patel, A.S.M. Smyth, A. Angeloudis and T.A.A. Adcock (2024) Tidal Stream Energy Resource Assessment of the Pentland Firth: Practical and Accessible Constraints, Young Coastal Scientists and Engineers Conference 2024, Wallingford UK.

Q. Xiao et al. (2024) Enhanced wave-induced drift of floating objects, Ocean Sciences Meeting, New Orleans, US.

T.A.A. Adcock et al. (2024) Predicting tidal waves: a recasting of Munk & Cartwright’s response method facilitated by machine learning, 6th KOzWaves, Dunedin, New Zealand.

2023

T. Monahan, T. Tang and T.A.A. Adcock (2023) Comparisons of a revised tidal Response Method with modern Harmonic Analysis​. 28th IGUU General Symposium, Berlin.

T. Tang, G. Ryan, H. Ding, S. Dai, P.H. Taylor, J. Zang and T.A.A. Adcock (2023) An experimental investigation of nonlinear wave loading on a vertical cylinder — Stokes type expansion and secondary load cycle, 10th PRIMaRE conference, Bath, UK.

P. Pottisomporn, T.A.A. Adcock and C.R. Vogel (2023) Application of hydrological droughts pooling procedures on low wind power generation events in the UK, 7th International Conference on Meterology & Energy (ICEM), Padova, Italy.

T. Monahan, T. Tang and T.A.A. Adcock (2023) Enhancing Tidal Energy Forecasting Using Hybrid Online Machine Learning. EGU, Vienna.

T. Tang, H. Ding, S. Dai, P.H. Taylor, J. Zang and T.A.A. Adcock (2023) An experimental investigation of nonlinear wave loading on a vertical cylinder - Stokes type expansion and secondary load cycle, 38th International Workshop on Water Waves and Floating Bodies 2023 (IWWWFB 2023), Ann Arbor, US.

T. Tang, H. Ding, S. Dai, X. Chen. P.H. Taylor, J. Zang and T.A.A. Adcock (2023) Data informed model test design with machine learning—an example in nonlinear wave load on vertical cylinder, OMAE2023, Melbourne , Australia.

M. Patel, A. Smyth, A. Angeloudis and T.A.A. Adcock. (2023) Investigation of Low Order Parameters Affecting Tidal Stream Energy Resource Assessments, Proc. EWTEC, vol. 15, Sep. 2023.

2022

Z. Li, T. Tang, S. Draycott. Y. Li, T.S. van den Bremer and T.A.A Adcock (2022) On Rogue Waves Generated by Abrupt Depth Transitions, 41st International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering (OMAE2022), Hamburg, Germany.

T. Tang and T.A.A Adcock (2022) A Reduced Order Parameterization of Random Wave Fields With Deterministic Wave Groups, 41st International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering (OMAE2022), Hamburg, Germany.

D. Barratt, T.S. van den Bremer and T.A.A Adcock (2022) The impact of the spectral tail on the kurtosis of random seas, 41st International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering (OMAE2022), Hamburg, Germany.

Q. Xiao, R. Calvert, S.Q. Yan, T. Adcock  and T.S. van den Bremer (2022) The wave-induced drift of objects of finite size, 37th International Water Waves and Floating Bodies, Giardini Naxos, Italy.

2020

D Barratt, H.B Bingham, P.H. Taylor, T.S. van den Bremer and T.A.A.Adcock (2020) Lineariation of the Wave Spectrum: A Comparison of Methods, 39th International Conference on Ocean,Offshore and Arctic Engineering (OMAE2020).

T.Tang, Y. Li, H.B Bingham and T.A.A.Adcock (2020) Comparison of two versions of the MNLS with the full water wave equations, 39th International Conference on Ocean,Offshore and Arctic Engineering (OMAE2020).

D Barratt, H.B Bingham, P.H. Taylor, T.S. van den Bremer and T.A.A.Adcock (2020) On the Rapid Spectral Evolution of Steep Wave Groups: Directional Spreading and the Spectral Tail, 35th International Workshop on Water Waves and Floating Bodies, Seoul, Korea.

2019

A.M. Firdaus, G.T. Houlsby and T.A.A.Adcock (2019) Resource estimates in Lombok Straits, Indonesia, 13th European Wave and Tidal Energy Conference, Naples, Italy.

Y. Li, T.A.A. Adcock and T.S. van den Bremer (2019) Linear evolution of a narrow-bandedsurface gravity wavepacket over an infinite step, 38th International Conference on Ocean,Offshore and Arctic Engineering (OMAE2019), Glasgow, UK.

Q. Ma, T. Moreira and T.A.A.Adcock (2019) Impact of the Swansea Bay lagoon on stormsurges in the Bristol Channel, 38th International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and ArcticEngineering (OMAE2019), Glasgow, UK.

D. Barratt, H.B. Bingham, and T.A.A.Adcock (2019) Nonlinear Evolution of a Steep,Focusing Wave Group in Deep Water Simulated with OceanWave3D, 38th International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering (OMAE2019), Glasgow, UK.

T.A.A. Adcock, X. Feng,:T. Tang, T.S. van den Bremer, A.H. Day, S. Dai, Y. Li, Z. Lin, W.Xu and P.H. Taylor (2019) Application of 4-phase decomposition to the analysis of randomtime series from wave basin tests, 38th International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering (OMAE2019), Glasgow, UK.

T. Tang, M.J. Yelland and T.A.A.Adcock (2019) The Average Shape of Large Waves inthe Norwegian Sea – is Non-Linear Physics Important?, 38th International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering (OMAE2019), Glasgow, UK.

X. Feng, R.H.J. Willden and T.A.A.Adcock (2019) Numerical Analysis of Nonlinear WaveLoads on an Offshore Wind Turbine Monopile, 38th International Conference on Ocean,Offshore and Arctic Engineering (OMAE2019), Glasgow, UK.

L. Chen, P.A.J. Bonar, C.R. Vogel and T.A.A.Adcock (2019) Local blockage effects foridealised turbines in tidal channels, 38th International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering (OMAE2019), Glasgow, UK.

A.M. Schnabl,T. Moreira, D. Wood, E.J. Kubatko, G.T. Houlsby, R.A. McAdam and T.A.A.Adcock (2019) Implementation of tidal stream turbine and tidal barrage structuresin DG-SWEM, 38th International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering (OMAE2019), Glasgow, UK.

Q. Ma, T. Moreira and T.A.A .Adcock (2019) The impact of a tidal barrage on storm surge in the Severn Estuary, Young Coastal Engineers and Scientist Conference, Glasgow, UK.

M. McAllister, S. Draycott, T.Adcock, P. Taylor and T. van den Bremer (2019) Laboratory recreation of the Draupner wave and the role of breaking in crossing seas, EGU2019,Vienna.

Y. Li, T.A.A. Adcock and T.S. van den Bremer (2019) Second-order bound and freewaves for a narrow-banded surface gravity wave group propagating over an infinite step, EGU2019, Vienna.

D.Barratt, H.B. Bingham, P.H. Taylor, T.S. van den Bremer, and T.A.A.Adcock (2019) Directional Energy Transfer due to Third Order Interactions during an Extreme Wave Event, 34th International Workshop on Waves and Floating Bodies, Newcastle, Australia.

2018

T. Wang and T.A.A. Adcock (2018) Power and thurst capping of tidal stream turbines — A case study in the Pentland Firth.  OMAE2018, Madrid, Spain.

L. Chen, P.A.J. Bonar and T.A.A. Adcock (2018) Design of a tidal turbine array for the Bohai Strait, China. OMAE2018, Madrid, Spain.

T.A.A. Adcock and P.H. Taylor (2018) Ocean wave non-linearity and wind input in directional seas — energy input during wave-group focussing, OMAE2018, Madrid, Spain.

M.L. McAllister, T.A.A. Adocck, P.H. Taylor and T.S. Van Den Bremer (2018) The set-down and set-up of directionally spread and crossing surface gravity wave groups in severe North Sea storms. OMAE2018, Madrid, Spain 77186.

P.A.J. Bonar, T.S. van den Bremer, T.A.A. Adcock, J. Orszaghova, C.J. FitzGerald, F.M. Judge, P.H. Taylor and A.G.L. Borthwick (2018) Irregular waves over non-uniform bathymetry, Young Coastal Engineers and Scientists, Hull, UK.

L.Chen, P.A.J. Bonar, C.R. Vogel and T.A.A. Adcock (2018) A basin-scale comparison of constrained BEM and actuator disc models. 6th Oxford Tidal Energy Workshop 26-27 March 2018, Oxford, UK.

2017

M.L. McAllister, T. A. A. Adcock, P.H. Taylor and T. S. van den Bremer (2017) The Set-down and Set-up of Directionally Spread and Crossing Surface Gravity Wave Groups, International Workshop on Waves, Storm Surges and Coastal Hazard, Liverpool, UK, 11 to 15 September.

Z. Jackson, S.Grey, T.A.A. Adcock, P.H. Taylor and J-R. Bidlot (2017) Hindcasting the waves at the Mulberry Harbours, International Workshop on Waves, Storm Surges and Coastal Hazard, Liverpool, UK, 11 to 15 September.

T. S. van den Bremer, M.L. McAllister, T. A. A. Adcock and P. H. Taylor (2017) The set-down and set-up of directionally spread and crossing surface gravity wave groups, IUTAM Symposium on Wind Waves, UCL, London, 5 to 8 September.

A.M. Firdus, G.T. Houlsby and T.A.A. Adcock (2017) Opportunities for Tidal Stream Energy in Indonesian Waters, 12th European Wave and Tidal Energy Conference (EWTEC), Cork, Republic of Ireland.

A.M. Schnabl, T.A.A. Adcock and G.T. Houlsby (2017) Training wall effects on power generation of tidal stream turbine arrays placed at headlands, 12th European Wave and Tidal Energy Conference (EWTEC), Cork, Republic of Ireland.

P.A.J. Bonar and T.A.A. Adcock (2017) Tidal stream power in Malaysia, Young Coastal Engineers and Scientists Conference, Bath, UK. 11-12 April.

2016

T.A.A. Adcock (2016) On non-linear changes to the shape of extreme wave-groups in deep water. Ocean wind waves: Observing, modelling & forecasting ocean wind waves, Challenger Society Meeting, Wallingford, UK, 19-20 October.

D. Sarkar, M. Osborne and T. Adcock (2016) A machine learning approach to the prediction of tidal currents. ISOPE2016, Rhodes, Greece.

C. Gao and T.A.A. Adcock (2016) Numerical investigation of resonance in the Bristol Channel. ISOPE2016, Rhodes, Greece.

C. Gao and T.A.A. Adcock (2016) The Characteristics of Storm Surges in the Bristol Channel. ISOPE2016, Rhodes, Greece.

T.A.A. Adcock and P.H. Taylor (2016) Non-linear evolution of large waves in deep water — the influence of directional spreading and spectral bandwidth. ISOPE2016, Rhodes, Greece.

T.A.A. Adcock and P.H. Taylor (2016) The shape of extreme wave-groups on the open ocean. Extreme events and rogue waves. Bad Honnef, Germany.Kalbarri National Park

T.A.A. Adcock, P.H. Taylor and S. Draper (2016) The shape of extreme waves on the open ocean. EGU Assembly, Vienna.

P.A.J. Bonar, V. Vengatesan, A.G.L. Borthwick and T.A.A. Adcock (2016) Numerical modelling of two-scale turbine flow dynamics. 5th Oxford Tidal Workshop.

H. Bredmose, S. Schløera, T.J. Larsen, A. Ghadirian, H.B. Bingham, O. Lindberg, E.D. Christensen, M.H. Vested, A. Engsig-Karup, O.S. Petersen, H.F. Hansen, M. Dixen, P.H. Taylor, T. Adcock, C. Obhrai, O.T. Gudmestad, N.J. Tarp-Johansen, C.P. Meyer, J.R. Krokstad, L. Suja-Thauvin and T.D. Hanson (2016) New research on extreme wave loads on offshore wind turbines. EERA DeepWind2016, 13th Deep Sea Offshore Wind R&D Conference, 20 — 22 January, Trondheim, Norway.

2015

T.A.A. Adcock and S. Draper (2015) The Second Order Contribution to Wave Crest Amplitude— Random Simulations and NewWave, ISOPE2015, Kona, Hawaii.

C. Gao, T.A.A. Adcock and S. Serhadlıoğlu (2015) The sensitivity of tidal resonance in the Bristol Channel, 4th Oxford Tidal Workshop, Oxford

T.A.A. Adcock (2015), Predictability and temporal variation of tidal stream power, 4th Oxford Tidal Workshop, Oxford

2014

S. Draper, T. Nishino and T. Adcock (2014) Turbine blockage in Non-Uniform Flow, 19th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Melbourne, Australia, 8-11 December.

Isis from Donnington Bridge with iPhoneT.A.A. Adcock and S. Draper (2014) On the tidal stream resource of two sites in the English Channel: Portland Bill and Isle of Wight, 33rd International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering, San Francisco, USA.

T.A.A. Adcock and S. Draper (2014) Different metrics for estimating the tidal stream energy resource, 1st PRiMaRE conference, Plymouth, UK.

T.A.A. Adcock (2014) The available power obtainable from tidal stream turbines from a flow around an idealised headland, IAHR European Congress, Porto, Portugal.

S Draper, T. Nishino, T.A.A. Adcock and G.T. Houlsby (2014) Wind and tidal turbines in uniform flow. 3rd Oxford Tidal Energy Workshop, Oxford, UK.

2013

S. Draper, T. Stallard, P. Stansby, S. Way and T. Adcock (2013) Laboratory scale experiments and preliminary modelling to investigate basin scale tidal stream energy extraction. 10th European Wave and Tidal Energy Conference (EWTEC), Aalborg, Denmark.

S. Serhadlıoğlu, T.A.A. Adcock, G.T. Houlsby, S. Draper and A.G.L.Borthwick (2013) Tidal Stream Energy Assessment of the Anglesey Skerries. 10th European Wave and Tidal Energy Conference (EWTEC), Aalborg, Denmark.

S. Serhadlıoğlu, T.A.A. Adcock, G.T. Houlsby and A.G.L. Borthwick (2013) Tidal Stream Energy Assessment of the Anglesey Skerries. 2nd Oxford Tidal Energy Workshop, Oxford, UK.

S. Serhadlıoğlu, G.T. Houlsby, T.A.A. Adcock, S. Draper, A.G.L. Borthwick and E.J. Kubatko (2013) Assessment of tidal stream energy resources in the UK using a discontinuous Galerkin finite element scheme. 17th International Conference on Finite Elements in Flow Problems (FEF 2013), San Diego.

2012

T.A.A. Adcock, S. Draper, G.T. Houlsby and A.G.L. Borthwick (2012) The tidal stream resource of the Pentland Firth. International Conference on Ocean Energy (ICOE), Dublin.
T.A.A. Adcock (2012) On the Garrett & Cummins limit. 1st Oxford Tidal Energy Workshop, Oxford, UK.

2011

T.A.A. Adcock, A.G.L. Borthwick and G.T. Houlsby (2011) The open boundary problem in the modeling of tidal basins with energy extraction. 9th European Wave and Tidal Energy Conference (EWTEC), Southampton.

T.A.A. Adcock and P.H. Taylor (2011) On the non-linear evolution of directionally spread wave-groups. 26th International Workshop on Water Waves and Floating Bodies, Athens, Greece.

T.A.A. Adcock (2011) Tidal power from Ramsey Harbour, Isle of Man. 7th Young coastal engineers and scientists conference, Liverpool.

2010

T.A.A. Adcock and S. Yan (2010) Focusing of uni-directional Gaussian wave-groups in finite depth. 29th International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering (OMAE), Shanghai.

S. Yan, Q.W. Ma and T.A.A. Adcock (2010) Investigations of Freak Waves on Uniform Current. 25th International Workshop on Water Waves and Floating Bodies, Harbin, China.

T.A.A. Adcock (2010) Freak waves in finite water depth. 6th Young coastal engineers and scientists conference, London.

2009

T.A.A. Adcock and P.H. Taylor (2009) Second order difference waves and the Draupner New Year Wave. 11th International Workshop on Wave Hindcasting and Forecasting, Halifax, Canada.

T.A.A. Adcock and P.H. Taylor (2009) The Mulberry Harbours – A review of an early example of offshore engineering. 28th International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering (OMAE), Honolulu, Hawaii.

2008

T.A.A. Adcock and P.H. Taylor (2008) Spatial wave structure created by wind input. International Offshore and Polar Engineering (ISOPE), Vancouver, Canada.

T.A.A. Adcock and P.H. Taylor (2008) Estimating wave spreading from a single point time history. 4th Young coastal engineers and scientists conference, Oxford.

2006

P.H. Taylor, T.A.A. Adcock, A.G.L. Borthwick, D.A.G. Walker and Y. Yao (2006) The Nature of the Draupner giant wave of 1st January 1995 and the associated sea-state, and how to estimate directional spreading from and Eulerian surface elevation time history. 9th International Workshop on Wave Hindcasting and Forecasting, Victoria, Canada.

Theses

Aspects of wave dynamics and statistics on the open ocean. D.Phil. Thesis. University of Oxford (2009).

The Mulberry Harbour Breakwaters. 4th year project. University of Oxford (2005)

I gave a demonstration of the Bombardon floating breakwaters used in the Mulberry Harbours on the One Show on the BBC.

My work on the Draupner wave was featured on numerous media outlets. An interview with the Oxford Science blog can be found here.

One of my papers examining the tidal stream resource of the Pentland Firth received a lot of media attention including articles in the Guardian and the Independent.

My work on rogue waves led to an interview on the Today Programme as well other radio stations. The work was also featured in The Times as well as other written media.

I wrote an article for the Oxford Science Blog about the work we have done on waves at the Mulberry Harbours.