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Houtani Lab
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The lab studies marine engineering, working to unravel the nature of giant ocean waves and the motion of ships within them.
AboutAbout the lab
Understanding ocean waves for the safe use of the sea
The Houtani Lab studies marine engineering problems related to ocean waves.
To enable the safe use of the ocean, the lab advances its research through theory, numerical simulation, and experiments in a large wave tank.
In particular, it aims to understand complex phenomena such as how giant waves form and how ships move in them.
Some research is carried out jointly with the Suzuki Lab in the same department.
Key terms
- Numerical simulation
- Representing a phenomenon with mathematical equations and reproducing or predicting it through computer calculations
- Freak wave
- A giant wave that appears suddenly in the open ocean and is much higher than the surrounding waves. It threatens the safety of ships and offshore structures
- Floating offshore wind turbine
- A wind turbine mounted on a platform (floater) that floats on the sea rather than being fixed to the seabed
NewsLab news
Paper published on the statistical error of time series generated from spectra
Paper published on estimating encountered waves and unmeasured responses from ship measurement data
Paper published on predicting ocean wave fields using a video prediction method
Paper published on the motion of a floating offshore wind turbine with a wire-supported tower
Paper published on a research and development project on digital twins of ship hull structures
ResearchResearch themes
The lab studies marine engineering problems related to waves through theory, numerical simulation, and model experiments in a large wave tank. Aiming at the safe use of the ocean, it seeks to understand complex phenomena such as the process by which giant waves form and the motion of ships and offshore structures in giant waves.
*Illustrative imageGiant Ocean Waves
The lab investigates the mechanism by which freak waves form. These are giant waves that appear suddenly in the open ocean and threaten the safety of ships and offshore structures. It also works on experiments that reproduce such waves in a wave tank.
*Illustrative imageShip Motion in Giant Waves
The lab studies complex phenomena such as the impact forces acting on a ship that encounters a giant wave and the resulting hull vibration. It is also developing probabilistic methods to estimate how large a ship's response in waves can become.
*Illustrative imageAdvancing Wave Tank Experiments
The lab has developed a new-concept elastic ship model, visualization of the waves around a model using stereo cameras, and a variety of wave generation techniques. At the ship model basin of the Faculty of Engineering, it has also begun working on automating experiments and measurements.
*Illustrative imageFloating Offshore Wind Power
Together with the Suzuki Lab, the lab is analyzing how floating offshore wind turbines move in waves and developing new shapes of small, lightweight floating platforms.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Houtani Lab include faculty, technical staff, project senior researchers, academic specialists, students in the doctoral, master's, and undergraduate programs, and research students.As of 2026
- LecturerHidetaka HoutaniPublications ↗
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “UCL OTT” Danfone / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Giant Ocean Waves: “Wea00800,1” NOAA / Public domain (cropped)
- Ship Motion in Giant Waves: “Winter-Nordatlantik - Sturm, Wasser über Deck und Luken” Buonasera / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Advancing Wave Tank Experiments: “NewcastleTowingTank” Xtrememachineuk at English Wikipedia / CC BY 2.5 (cropped)
- Floating Offshore Wind Power: “Agucadoura WindFloat Prototype” Untrakdrover / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Hirabayashi Lab (Ocean Space Planning Lab)): “Hywind Wind Farm, off Peterhead - geograph.org.uk - 7226685” Mike Pennington / CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Outfitting Lab): “Carbon fiber roving” Acheolg / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Waseda-Kodaira Lab): “Wea00800,1” NOAA / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Miwa Lab (Visualization Laboratory)): “Buoyant jet” Left.tom / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
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