Abstract
This cross-industry/academic project aims to develop a computational tool capable of predicting the
behavior of Wave Energy Converter (WEC) and mooring coupled systems in extreme waves. The
Numerical Wave Tank (NWT) created employs a fully nonlinear Computational Fluid Dynamics
approach to solve the incompressible Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equations for air and water
using a Volume of Fluid treatment of the free surface.
The study compares simulations of two existing WEC designs (Figure 1) with scale-model tank tests.
For the Wavestar machine, a point-absorber constrained to pitch motion only [1], results show good
agreement with physical measurements of pressure, force and float motion in regular waves. However,
the solution in the wake region requires improvement. For the Seabased device, a point-absorber
consisting of a moored float and Power Take-Off with limited stroke length, translator and endstop
[2], bespoke functionality has been added to the NWT. The 6 Degrees of Freedom float motion and
load in the mooring compare well with experiments in large regular waves.
In conclusion, the computational tool developed here is capable of reliably predicting the behaviour of
WEC systems and, with some additional parameterisation, could be used to assess the survivability of
WEC systems at full-scale before going to the expense of deployment at sea.
Original language | English |
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Number of pages | 0 |
Journal | Default journal |
Volume | 0 |
Issue number | 0 |
Publication status | Published - 16 Jun 2015 |
Event | in Proceedings of the 2nd PRIMaRE Conference - Penryn, UK Duration: 16 Jun 2015 → 17 Jun 2015 |