Hydrodynamic Modelling of An Oscillating Wave Surge Converter Including Power Take-Off

Abstract

To estimate the response of wave energy converters to different sea environments accurately is an ongoing challenge for researchers and industry, considering that there has to be a balance between guaranteeing their integrity whilst extracting the wave energy efficiently. For oscillating wave surge converters, the incident wave field is changed due to the pitching motion of the flap structure. A key component influencing this motion response is the Power Take-Off system used. Based on OpenFOAM, this paper includes the Power Take-off to establish a realistic model to simulate the operation of a three-dimensional oscillating wave surge converter by solving Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes equations. It examines the relationship between incident waves and the perturbed fluid field near the flap, which is of great importance when performing in arrays as neighbouring devices may influence each other. Furthermore, it investigates the influence of different control strategy systems (active and passive) in the energy extracted from regular waves related to the performance of the device. This system is estimated for each wave frequency considered and the results show the efficiency of the energy extracted from the waves is related to high amplitude pitching motions of the device in short periods of time.

Comparative Study of Oscillating Surge Wave Energy Converter Performance: A Case Study for Southern Coasts of the Caspian Sea

“…Due to the complex interaction between the WEC's flap and the incident waves, the flap's geometric specification is critical for achieving maximum power output [61]. These specifications include, but are not limited to, flap width, height and thickness.…”

Numerical Investigation of the Scaling Effects for a Point Absorber

“…In the other hand, in order to simulate trains of regular waves, most authors recommend the selection of a wave theory based on dimensional parameters, where two of the most cited works are from Le Méhauté in 1976 and Hedges in 1995 [22,23]. Based on these recommendations, several authors propose numerical models using, from linear theory [24][25][26][27] to higher order wave theories [28,29], to simulate the wave behaviour. In some of these studies the goal was to numerically model scaled WEC devices where the same wave theory selection map from Le Méhauté was used without considering the influence of the scale effect on the correct selection of the wave theory [26,27].…”

The Hydraulically Controlled Oscillating Piston Converter

“…Ref. [4] gives an overview of this work; [5][6][7][8][9][10][11] are important contributions of recent years. In these cases, the inertia is realized by the fluid in a so-called inertance pipe.…”