We consider a flap-gate farm, i.e. a series of P arrays, each made by Q neighboring flap gates, in an infinitely long channel. We show that there are P × ( Q − 1) natural modes and determine their eigenfrequencies and modal forms. When the distance between the arrays goes to infinity the eigenfrequencies converge to the Q − 1 values given by Li and Mei [ 14 ]. For an ad-hoc combination of channel geometry and flap gate characteristics, modal excitation can give significantly larger response than for the case of a single or a sparse gate system. This aspect is relevant for the design of an optimal gate farm wave energy converter.
We present a weakly nonlinear theory on the natural modes' resonance of an array of oscillating wave surge converters (OWSCs) in a channel. We first derive the evolution equation of the Stuart-Landau type for the gate oscillations in uniform and modulated incident waves and then evaluate the nonlinear effects on the energy conversion performance of the array. We show that the gates are unstable to side-band perturbations so that a Benjamin-Feir instability similar to the case of Stokes' waves is possible. The non-autonomous dynamical system presents period doubling bifurcations and strange attractors. We also analyse the competition of two natural modes excited by one incident wave. For weak damping and power take-off coefficient, the dynamical effects on the generated power of the OWSCs are investigated. We show that the occurrence of subharmonic resonance significantly increases energy production.
We consider a flap gate farm, i.e. a series of P arrays, each made of Q neighbouring flap gates, in an open sea of constant depth, forced by monochromatic incident waves. The effect of the gate thickness on the dynamics of the system is taken into account. By means of Green's theorem a system of hypersingular integral equations for the velocity potential in the fluid domain is solved in terms of Legendre polynomials. We show that synchronous excitation of the natural frequencies of Sammarco et al. (2013) yields large amplitude response of gate motion. This aspect is fundamental for the optimisation of the gate farm for energy production
We consider a finite array of floating flap gates oscillating wave surge converter (OWSC) in water of constant depth. The diffraction and radiation potentials are solved in terms of elliptical coordinates and Mathieu functions. Generated power and capture width ratio of a single gate excited by incoming waves are given in terms of the radiated wave amplitude in the far field. Similar to the case of axially symmetric absorbers, the maximum power extracted is shown to be directly proportional to the incident wave characteristics: energy flux, angle of incidence and wavelength. Accordingly, the capture width ratio is directly proportional to the wavelength, thus giving a design estimate of the maximum efficiency of the system. We then compare the array and the single gate in terms of energy production. For regular waves, we show that excitation of the out-of-phase natural modes of the array increases the power output, while in the case of random seas we show that the array and the single gate achieve the same efficiency
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.