Analysis of the Wave Attenuating and Dynamic Behaviour of a Floating Breakwater Integrating a Hydro-Pneumatic Energy Storage System

Abstract

Floating breakwaters have recently been generating increasing interest as a vital means to provide shelter and protect the ever-increasing number of structures deployed at sea. Notwithstanding the novel ideas being put forward, to date, floating breakwater deployment has been limited to inshore and shallow water areas. The scale of such structures has been restricted to the smaller spectrum. Furthermore, whilst some concepts to integrate floating breakwaters with other offshore systems have been proposed to benefit from cost-sharing strategies, studies related to floating breakwaters integrating energy storage are lacking in the open literature. The present research investigates the wave attenuating and dynamic performance of a large-scale floating breakwater in deep seas with a hydro-pneumatic energy storage system also integrated within the structure. This article highlights the arising need for floating breakwaters and sheds light on the present-day technological status of floating wave breakers. It then lays the ground for the proposed, novel floating breakwater concept that aims to address the current knowledge gaps in this field of study. The simulation results generated from numerical modelling via the potential flow solver ANSYS® AQWA™ have been promising, connoting that the addition of hydro-pneumatic energy storage to a floating breakwater will not lead to a degradation in the dynamic performance or wave breaking efficiency of the floating structure.

Techno-Feasibility Assessment of a Floating Breakwater Concept for Supporting Marine Renewables in Deep Waters

“…The baseline data used throughout this paper apply data from the previous work by Borg et al [24] and Cutajar et al [25]. The main ESS parameters, which are kept constant throughout this paper, are summarised in Table 1.…”

“…The geometric parameters of a single FBW module with the integrated HPES system (presented in Figure 3) described in [25] and being adopted in the present study are presented in Table 5. Note that the FBW floater remains unchanged when integrating the HPES system.…”

“…Similarly, the characteristics of the PCS system and the catenary mooring system are listed in Table 5. Further detail may, however, be found in [25]. [25].…”

“…Further detail may, however, be found in [25]. [25]. A front view of the FBW with the integrated HPES system.…”

“…Table 5. Overall properties and parameters of the FBW [25]. Table 6 gives a breakdown of the total hardware-attributable cost for one hybrid FBW module.…”