A Numerical Study on the Performance of Fixed Oscillating Water Column Wave Energy Converter at Steep Waves

Author(s):  
Morteza Anbarsooz ◽  
Ali Faramarzi ◽  
Amirmahdi Ghasemi

In the current study, a fully nonlinear two-dimensional numerical wave tank is developed using the commercial CFD software, Ansys Fluent 15.0, in order to study the absorption characteristics of an OWC at linear and highly nonlinear steep waves. The two-phase Volume-Of-Fluid (VOF) method is employed to predict the water free surface evolution. The numerical results are first validated against the available analytical data in the literature. The good agreement between the numerical results and those of analytics, revealed the capability of the developed numerical tank to study the performance of the OWC. Next, the simulations are performed for strongly nonlinear waves, up to the wave steepness of 0.069 (H/L=0.069), where H is the wave height and L is the wave length. The optimum pneumatic damping of the air turbine at such strongly steep and nonlinear waves is determined. Results show that the absorption efficiency of the OWC decreases considerably as the wave height increases. Moreover, the maximum wave energy absorption efficiency for the highly nonlinear waves occurs at a pneumatic damping coefficient lower than that of the linear theory.

Author(s):  
M Anbarsooz ◽  
H Rashki ◽  
A Ghasemi

One of the main geometrical parameters of the fixed oscillating water column wave energy converters is the inclination angle of front wall. In this study, the effects of this parameter on the hydrodynamic performance of an oscillating water column is investigated using a fully nonlinear two-dimensional numerical wave tank, which is developed using the Ansys Fluent 15.0 commercial software. The accuracy of the developed wave tank is first examined by simulating an oscillating water column, having a front wall normal to the water-free surface, subjected to linear, small amplitude incident waves. The resultant absorption efficiencies are compared with available analytical data in the literature, where a good agreement was observed. Next, the simulations are performed for strongly nonlinear waves, up to the wave steepness of 0.069 ( H/L = 0.069), where H is the wave height and L is the wave length. Results show that the absorption efficiency of the oscillating water column decreases considerably as the wave height increases. Moreover, the maximum wave energy absorption efficiency for the highly nonlinear waves occurs at a pneumatic damping coefficient lower than that of the linear theory. Then, the absorption efficiency of the oscillating water column is determined for eight various front wall configurations at various incident wave periods. Results show that, the front walls that are slightly bent towards the inner region of the oscillating water column chamber are more efficient at some wave periods in comparison with the cases studied in this paper.


2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 722-744 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcela A. Cruchaga ◽  
Carlos Ferrada ◽  
Nicolás Márquez ◽  
Sebastián Osses ◽  
Mario Storti ◽  
...  

Purpose – The present work is an experimental and numerical study of a sloshing problem including baffle effects. The purpose of this paper is to assess the numerical behavior of a Lagrangian technique to track free surface flows by comparison with experiments, to report experimental data for sloshing at different conditions and to evaluate the effectiveness of baffles in limiting the wave height and the wave propagation. Design/methodology/approach – Finite element simulations performed with a fixed mesh technique able to describe the free surface evolution are contrasted with experimental data. The experiments consist of an acrylic tank of rectangular section designed to attach baffles of different sizes at different distance from the bottom. The tank is filled with water and mounted on a shake table able to move under controlled horizontal motion. The free surface evolution is measured with ultrasonic sensors. The numerical results computed for different sloshing conditions are compared with the experimental data. Findings – The reported numerical results are in general in good agreement with the experiments. In particular, wave heights and frequencies response satisfactorily compared with the experimental data for the several cases analyzed during steady state forced sloshing and free sloshing. The effectiveness of the baffles increases near resonance conditions. From the set of experiments studied, the major reduction of the wave height was obtained when larger baffles were positioned closer to the water level at rest. Practical implications – Model validation: evaluation of the effectiveness of non-massive immersed baffles during sloshing. Originality/value – The value of the present work encompass the numerical and experimental study of the effect of immersed baffles during sloshing under different imposed conditions and the comparison of numerical results with the experimental data. Also, the results shown in the present work are a contribution to the understanding of the role in the analysis of the proposed problem of some specific aspects of the geometry and the imposed motion.


1986 ◽  
Vol 1 (20) ◽  
pp. 132
Author(s):  
Kuo-Quan Chen ◽  
Ruey-Chy Kao ◽  
Frederick L.W. Tang

Every coastal engineer realizes that the weight of armour blocks decided by Hudson's formula is safe enough for short steep waves, however, suffering damage from long period swells, even though the incidental wave height is the same. Several corrections have been made and submitted to ICCE as well as in other occasion. The authors try to explain analytically the influence of wave length on the design weight of armour blocks and justify by much of experiments in order to offer new formula and graphs for practical application.


2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-58
Author(s):  
Wenbin Lai ◽  
Yonghe Xie ◽  
Detang Li

Abstract The oscillating buoy wave energy converter (OBWEC) captures wave energy through the undulating movement of the buoy in the waves. In the process of capturing wave energy, the hydrodynamic performance of the buoy plays an important role. This paper designed the “Haida No. 1” OBWEC, in which the buoy adopts a form of swinging motion. In order to further improve the hydrodynamic performance of the buoy, a 2D numerical wave tank (NWT) model is established using ADINA software based on the working principle of the device. According to the motion equation of the buoy in the waves, the influence of the buoy shape, arm length, tilt angle, buoy draft, buoy width, wave height and Power Take-off (PTO) damping on the hydrodynamic performance of the buoy is studied. Finally, a series of physical experiments are performed on the device in a laboratory pool. The experimental results verify the consistency of the numerical results. The research results indicate that the energy conversion efficiency of the device can be improved by optimizing the hydrodynamic performance of the buoy. However, the absorption efficiency of a single buoy for wave energy is limited, so it is very difficult to achieve full absorption of wave energy.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 334 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mads Røge Eldrup ◽  
Thomas Lykke Andersen

Numerical tests are performed to investigate wave transformations of nonlinear nonbreaking regular waves with normal incidence to the shore in decreasing and increasing water depth. The wave height transformation (shoaling) of nonlinear waves can, just as for linear waves, be described by conservation of the mechanical energy flux. The numerical tests show that the mechanical energy flux for nonlinear waves on sloping foreshores is well described by stream function wave theory for horizontal foreshore. Thus, this theory can be used to estimate the shoaled wave height. Furthermore, the amplitude and the celerity of the wave components of nonlinear waves on mildly sloping foreshores can also be predicted with the stream function wave theory. The tests also show that waves propagating to deeper water (de-shoaling) on a very gentle foreshore with a slope of cot(β) = 1200 can be described in the same way as shoaling waves. For de-shoaling on steeper foreshores, free waves are released leading to waves that are not of constant form and thus cannot be modelled by the proposed approach.


Multistage-overtopping wave energy device is an example of the overtopping concept in extracting energy from the ocean wave. The multistage opening allows the wave to overtop and stored inside the multistage reservoirs and later used for electricity generation. Previously, using concentrated V-shape-ramp on the conventional multi-reservoir Sea Slot-Cone Generator (SSG) has been proven to improve up to 67 percent in hydraulic power at the 3.5 meters of significant wave height and 9.3 meters of wave period. However, the performance begins to drop when operating at smaller wave height consisting of 2.5-meter significant wave height and 7.9 seconds of wave period. Thus, this follow-up paper presents a numerical study to improve device performance, especially at small wave height. Five breakwater-ramp designs were tested consisting of Basis, Design 1 to Design 5. The overtopping device performance was simulated using FLOW-3D CFD software. Results are presented in the form of mean overtopping discharge or potential energy stored and the total energy potential for each propose breakwater-ramp design. The numerical results show that the highest total energy potential represents as the potential power output is recorded by Design 4 and Design 5 with 63.26 and 63.05 kW respectively, compared to basis SSG device with only 29.14 kW at the wave height of 2.8 meters and a wave period of 9.3 seconds.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhengzhi Deng ◽  
Pinjie Wang ◽  
Pengda Cheng

To share the construction and maintenance cost, an asymmetric oscillating water column (OWC) device integrated with a pile-fixed box-typed offshore breakwater is considered experimentally and numerically. A fully nonlinear numerical wave tank is established and validated with the open source solver OpenFOAM. The effects of the width and draft of rear box, and the incident wave height on the wave energy conversion efficiency, reflection and transmission coefficients, and energy dissipation coefficient are examined. In addition, the superiority of the present coupling system, compared to the traditional box-type breakwater, is discussed. With well comparisons, the results show that the existence of the rear breakwater is beneficial for the formation of partial standing waves and further wave energy conversion. In the range of wave heights tested, the higher the incident wave height, the larger the energy absorption efficiency except for the short-wave regimes. Moreover, the OWC-breakwater coupling system can obtain a similar wave blocking ability to the traditional one, and simultaneously extract wave energy and decrease wave reflection.


2018 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
pp. 652-657 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriel Murariu ◽  
Razvan Adrian Mahu ◽  
Adrian Gabriel Murariu ◽  
Mihai Daniel Dragu ◽  
Lucian P. Georgescu ◽  
...  

This article presents the design of a specific unmanned aerial vehicle UAV prototype own building. Our UAV is a flying wing type and is able to take off with a little boost. This system happily combines some major advantages taken from planes namely the ability to fly horizontal, at a constant altitude and of course, the great advantage of a long flight-time. The aerodynamic models presented in this paper are optimized to improve the operational performance of this aerial vehicle, especially in terms of stability and the possibility of a long gliding flight-time. Both aspects are very important for the increasing of the goals� efficiency and for the getting work jobs. The presented simulations were obtained using ANSYS 13 installed on our university� cluster system. In a next step the numerical results will be compared with those during experimental flights. This paper presents the main results obtained from numerical simulations and the obtained magnitudes of the main flight coefficients.


Author(s):  
Olga Kuznetsova ◽  
Olga Kuznetsova ◽  
Yana Saprykina ◽  
Yana Saprykina ◽  
Boris Divinsky ◽  
...  

Based on numerical modelling evolution of beach under waves with height 1,0-1,5 m and period 7,5 and 10,6 sec as well as spectral wave parameters varying cross-shore analysed. The beach reformation of coastal zone relief is spatially uneven. It is established that upper part of underwater beach profile become terraced and width of the terrace is in direct pro-portion to wave height and period on the seaward boundary but inversely to angle of wave energy spreading. In addition it was ascertain that the greatest transfiguration of profile was accompanied by existence of bound infragravity waves, smaller part of its energy and shorter mean wave period as well as more significant roller energy.


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