Hydrodynamic response and power efficiency analysis of heaving wave energy converter integrated with breakwater

Reabroy, Ratthakrit; Zheng, Xioangbo; Zhang, Liang; Zang, Jun; Zheng, Yuan; Liu, Mingyao; Sun, Ke; Tiaple, Yodchai

doi:10.1016/j.enconman.2019.05.088

Cited by 68 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 30 publications

(30 reference statements)

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“…Zheng & Zhang [20] studied the performance of a hybrid WEC consisting of a fixed inverted flume and a long floating cube hinged with the flume, and an analytical study on power capture capability of the device for various geometrical parameters showed that the maximum power efficiency reached 95%. Reabroy et al [21] investigated the hydrodynamic and power capture performance of an asymmetric WEC integrated with a fixed breakwater using Star-CCM+ software and experiment, and showed the maximum power efficiency of the WEC was 0.376. Previous studies have focused on the hydrodynamic performance of hybrid systems with symmetric WECs, and have neglected wave resonance in the gap between the WEC and breakwater, which is one of the important differences between the dual-floater hybrid system and the single integrated system.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrodynamic performance of a dual-floater hybrid system combining a floating breakwater and an oscillating-buoy type wave energy converter

et al. 2020

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The high power generation cost impedes commercial-scale wave power operations. The main objective of this work was to provide a cost-sharing solution through combing the wave extraction and costal protection performance. A two-dimensional numerical wave tank was developed using Star-CCM+ Computational Fluid Dynamics software to investigate the hydrodynamic performance of a dual floater hybrid system consisting of a floating breakwater and an oscillating-buoy type wave energy converter (WEC). The new model was verified with published experimental results. The differences between the hydrodynamic performance of the hybrid system, a single WEC and a single breakwater were compared. The effects of the wave resonance in the WEC-breakwater gap and the geometrical parameters on the performance of the asymmetric WEC were also studied. It was found that the hybrid system demonstrated both better wave attenuation and wave energy extraction capabilities at low wave frequencies, i.e., wider effective frequency. The forces on the breakwater were generally reduced due to the WEC. Wave resonance in the narrow gap has an adverse effect on the hybrid system with an asymmetric WEC, while a beneficial effect with a symmetric WEC. The wave energy conversion efficiency of hybrid system can be improved by increasing the draft and width of the WEC and decreasing the distance between the WEC and the breakwater. The findings of this paper make wave energy economically competitive and commercial-scale wave power operations possible.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrodynamic performance of a dual-floater hybrid system combining a floating breakwater and an oscillating-buoy type wave energy converter

et al. 2020

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“…The importance of device hydrodynamics was demonstrated by Chen et al [26], who found that floaters with conical bottoms greatly improved WEC energy efficiency due to the smaller viscous damping compared with the square bottom. Reabroy et al [27] numerically and experimentally investigated the hydrodynamic and power performance of an asymmetric WEC integrated with a fixed breakwater, and showed that the maximum power efficiency of the WEC model was 37.6%.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrodynamic performance of a floating breakwater as an oscillating-buoy type wave energy converter

et al. 2020

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Combined floating breakwater and wave energy converter systems have the potential to provide a cost-effective solution to offshore power supply and coastal protection. This will make wave energy economically competitive and commercial-scale wave power operations possible. This paper investigates the hydrodynamic features of wave energy converters that meet the dual objectives of wave energy extraction and attenuation for such a combined system. A two-dimensional numerical model was established using Star-CCM+ commercial software based on viscous Computational Fluid Dynamics theory to investigate the hydrodynamic performance of an oscillating buoy Wave Energy Converter (WEC) type floating breakwater under regular waves. The model proposed in this paper was verified with published experimental results. The hydrodynamics of symmetric and asymmetric floaters were investigated to demonstrate their wave attenuation and energy extraction performance, including square bottomed, triangular bottomed (with and without a baffle plate), and the Berkley Wedge. The asymmetric floaters were found to have higher power conversion efficiency and better wave attenuation performance, especially the Berkeley Wedge bottom device and the triangular-baffle bottom device. The triangular-baffle bottom device with a simpler geometry achieved similar wave attenuation and energy extraction performance characteristics to that of the Berkeley Wedge device. The maximum energy conversion efficiency of the triangular-baffle bottom floater reached up to 93%, an impressive WEC device among many designs for wave energy conversion. There may be great potential for this newly proposed triangular-baffle bottom WEC type of floater to be an ideal coastal structure for both coastal protection and wave energy extraction.

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“…They require expensive mesh generation and present severe technical challenges to capturing the free surface as well as the nonlinearities within rapidly changing geometries. Some research works where the finite volume method is applied to the analysis of a single-body point-absorber are [22][23][24][25]. When simulating a multi-body device, an ad-hoc approach to model the kinematics is often employed [26].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling a Heaving Point-Absorber with a Closed-Loop Control System Using the DualSPHysics Code

et al. 2021

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The present work addresses the need for an efficient, versatile, accurate and open-source numerical tool to be used during the design stage of wave energy converters (WECs). The device considered here is the heaving point-absorber developed and tested by Sandia National Laboratories. The smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method, as implemented in DualSPHysics, is proposed since its meshless approach presents some important advantages when simulating floating devices. The dynamics of the power take-off system are also modelled by coupling DualSPHysics with the multi-physics library Project Chrono. A satisfactory matching between experimental and numerical results is obtained for: (i) the heave response of the device when forced via its actuator; (ii) the vertical forces acting on the fixed device under regular waves and; (iii) the heave response of the WEC under the action of both regular waves and the actuator force. This proves the ability of the numerical approach proposed to simulate accurately the fluid–structure interaction along with the WEC’s closed-loop control system. In addition, radiation models built from the experimental and WAMIT results are compared with DualSPHysics by plotting the intrinsic impedance in the frequency domain, showing that the SPH method can be also employed for system identification.

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Hydrodynamic response and power efficiency analysis of heaving wave energy converter integrated with breakwater

Cited by 68 publications

References 30 publications

Hydrodynamic performance of a dual-floater hybrid system combining a floating breakwater and an oscillating-buoy type wave energy converter

Hydrodynamic performance of a dual-floater hybrid system combining a floating breakwater and an oscillating-buoy type wave energy converter

Hydrodynamic performance of a floating breakwater as an oscillating-buoy type wave energy converter

Modelling a Heaving Point-Absorber with a Closed-Loop Control System Using the DualSPHysics Code

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