National Research Council – Ocean, Coastal and River Engineering (NRC/OCRE)

The NRC Ocean, Coastal and River Engineering (NRC OCRE) supports a broad cross-section of industry sectors by developing creative and practical solutions to engineering challenges in rivers, lakes and marine environments. It provides expertise and tools to identify, adapt, and integrate advanced solutions into systems that improve the performance and safety of ocean, coastal, and marine operations, meet the challenges of climate change, and protect infrastructure, property and people from severe weather events and other environmental risks.

What we offer

NRC OCRE offers specialized consulting and applied research services in ocean engineering, coastal engineering, solutions for water resources management, marine safety standards and technologies, as well as marine renewable energy assessments and technology. Our work supports industries that operate in harsh environments characterized by ice, wave, wind and cold temperature. OCRE serves the needs of clients in a variety of sectors, including: offshore oil and gas, marine transportation, marine and waterfront infrastructure, hydropower production, water resource management, standards and regulation, engineering design and construction. Our clients include start-ups, technology innovators and global industry leaders.

Our key technologies cover a broad range of applications, including marine vehicles design and operation, ice forecasting and measurement as well as methods to predict structural loading in ice, improved coastal defenses against erosion and storm damage, better marine safety and risk management systems and more reliable flood forecasting and modeling.

We add value beyond our testing and evaluation through the combination of knowledge, experience and comprehensive tools to deliver objective, accurate technology solutions and performance based information to our clients.

OCRE St. John’s, facilities include:

• Cold Test laboratories (Refrigerated material test laboratory)
• Towing tank (200m x 12m)
• Offshore engineering basin (75m x 32m)
• Ice Tank (90m x12m – longest in the world)
• Design and fabrication facilities for models and precision instrumentation
• Thermal lab and manikin