Analytical modelling of an U-Oscillating Water Column and performance in random waves

2013 ◽  
Vol 60 ◽  
pp. 116-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni Malara ◽  
Felice Arena
Author(s):  
João C. C. Henriques ◽  
Juan C. Chong ◽  
António F. O. Falcão ◽  
Rui P. F. Gomes

The paper concerns the phase control by latching of a floating oscillating-water-column (OWC) wave energy converter of spar-buoy type in irregular random waves. The device is equipped with a two-position fast-acting valve in series with the turbine. The instantaneous rotational speed of the turbine is controlled through the power electronics according to a power law relating the electromagnetic torque on the generator rotor to the rotational speed, an algorithm whose adequacy had been numerically tested in earlier papers. Two alternative strategies (1 and 2) for the latching/unlatching timings are investigated. Strategy 1 is based on the knowledge of the zero-crossings of the excitation force on the floater-tube set. This is difficult to implement in practice, since the excitation force can neither be measured directly nor predicted. Strategy 2 uses as input easily measurable physical variables: air pressure in the chamber and turbine rotational speed. Both strategies are investigated by numerical simulation based on a time-domain analysis of a spar-buoy OWC equipped with a self-rectifying radial-flow air turbine of biradial type. Air compressibility in the chamber plays an important role and was modelled as isentropic in a fully non-linear way. Numerical results show that significant gains up to about 28% are achievable through strategy 1, as compared with no phase control. Strategy 2, while being much easier to implement in practice, was found to yield more modest gains (up to about 15%).


2016 ◽  
Vol 99 ◽  
pp. 875-887 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonino Viviano ◽  
Stefania Naty ◽  
Enrico Foti ◽  
Tom Bruce ◽  
William Allsop ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Rebecca K. Sykes ◽  
Anthony W. Lewis ◽  
Gareth Thomas

A truncated hollow vertical circular cylinder provides a useful conduit for analysing the behaviour and performance of an offshore Oscillating Water Column wave energy device. This paper presents the preliminary results from a numerical and physical modelling study of a fixed thin-walled and a floating thick-walled cylinder, together with the numerical modelling of a thick-walled fixed cylinder of the same internal diameter. Comparisons of the measured pressures internal to the column, and external to the body in the case of the floating model, are made with the predictions obtained using the numerical boundary-element model WAMIT. Body motions are also given for the floating model. The numerical modelling enables a comparison to be made between the diffraction pressure on a thin and thick walled cylinder of the same internal diameter.


Author(s):  
Giovanni Malara ◽  
Felice Arena

This paper deals with the analytical modelling of an U-Oscillating Water Column (U-OWC). It is shown that this device can be adequately described by a nonlinear equation of motion including hydrodynamic memory effects. The excitation of the system, the added mass and the retardation function are derived by approximating the solution of a pertinent initial boundary value problem via eigen-function expansions of the (linear) velocity potential. Next, the performance of the system is investigated in random waves by relying on Monte Carlo simulations. The excitation of the system is synthesized from a given power spectral density. Then, the nonlinear equation of motion is numerically integrated. Pertinent statistical measures are estimated for assessing the efficiency of the U-OWC in exploiting sea wave energy. In this regard, the parameters show that the device can absorb most part of the incident wave energy. Further, the device can work in safe conditions even in quite rough sea states.


2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 7082-7093
Author(s):  
Jahirwan Ut Jasron ◽  
Sudjito Soeparmani ◽  
Lilis Yuliati ◽  
Djarot B. Darmadi

The hydrodynamic performance of oscillating water column (OWC) depends on the depth of the water, the size of the water column and its arrangement, which affects the oscillation of the water surface in the column. An experimental method was conducted by testing 4 water depths with wave periods of 1-3 s. All data recorded by the sensor is then processed and presented in graphical form. The research focused on analyzing the difference in wave power absorption capabilities of the three geometric types of OWC based on arrangements of water columns. The OWC devices designed as single water column, the double water column in a series arrangement which was perpendicular to the direction of wave propagation, and double water column in which the arrangement of columns was parallel to the direction of wave propagation. This paper discussed several factors affecting the amount of power absorbed by the device. The factors are the ratio of water depth in its relation to wavelength (kh) and the inlet openings ratio (c/h) of the devices. The test results show that if the water depth increases in the range of kh 0.7 to 0.9, then the performance of the double chamber oscillating water column (DCOWC) device is better than the single chamber oscillating water column (SCOWC) device with maximum efficiency for the parallel arrangement 22,4%, series arrangement 20.8% and single column 20.7%. However, when referring to c/h, the maximum energy absorption efficiency for a single column is 27.7%, double column series arrangement is 23.2%, and double column parallel arrangement is 29.5%. Based on the results of the analysis, DCOWC devices in parallel arrangement showed the ability to absorb better wave power in a broader range of wave frequencies. The best wave of power absorption in the three testing models occurred in the wave period T = 1.3 seconds.


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