Novel experimental modelling of the hydrodynamic interactions of arrays of wave energy converters

Nader, Jean-Roch; Fleming, Alan; Macfarlane, Gregor; Penesis, Irene; Manasseh, Richard

doi:10.1016/j.ijome.2017.11.003

Cited by 18 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Part of the project was a campaign consisting of over 1000 experimental runs which utilised the photogrammetry method described in this paper to image the water surface around different array configurations of wave energy converter analogues. A full description of the experimental setup is not necessary here, however the interested reader can obtain further detail on the project in the following references [28][29][30] . The broader aim of the research reported here was to obtain quality water surface elevation and velocity measurements utilising publically available DIC software.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Application of photogrammetry for spatial free surface elevation and velocity measurement in wave flumes

Fleming

Winship

Macfarlane

2018

Proceedings of the IMechE

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This article presents a method for obtaining the spatial free surface elevation and velocity field for the water surface in a wave flume over a relatively large measurement area for this type of application (approximately 1.5 m × 1.5 m). The technique employs proprietary videogrammetry software to post-process stereo images captured by multiple synchronised machine vision cameras. Dimensional resolution and other limitations are similar to that experienced for particle imaging velocimetry systems ( x, y resolution of 2 mm). Imaging of the free surface was enabled by the use of millions of bespoke slightly positively buoyant fluorescent flakes. Ultraviolet light was used as the primary light source to excite the fluorescent flakes. Reflected ultraviolet light was attenuated by a high-pass filter fitted to the cameras so that only the emitted light from the fluorescent flakes was visible. The software was validated using a simple linear translation experiment. An application is demonstrated for the radiated wave field generated from a submerged sinusoidal heaving sphere for two cases: one single and five consecutive oscillations. Results agree with linear wave theory which indicates that the floating flakes had minimal impact on the water surface particle motion at the scale tested. It is, therefore, concluded that spatial measurement of the free surface elevation and velocity using the method presented has good resolution over a large measurement field. The flakes were found to follow the free surface well, but the measurement area is constrained to where the pattern of flakes exists in the image. Hence, application of floating markers is not suitable for experiments with significant outflow/upwelling which would wash away the floating markers from the intended measurement area.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Application of photogrammetry for spatial free surface elevation and velocity measurement in wave flumes

Fleming

Winship

Macfarlane

2018

Proceedings of the IMechE

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“…Real-time simulation was carried out by Balitsky et al (2014) to model the optimal configuration for a six-body array using measured wave data from the west coast of Ireland. Control models have been introduced both in experiments and numerical modeling of arrays Li and Belmont, 2014;Mercadé Ruiz et al, 2017;Nader et al, 2017;Thomas et al, 2018a), but it is beyond the scope of the current paper to go into the details of advanced generator simulations or wave-to-wire models. Instead, we refer to reviews such as Penalba and Ringwood (2016) and Wang et al (2018) and focus on the most commonly used PTO models used in wave energy park optimization.…”

Section: Motion and Pto Modelingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Arrays of up to six point-absorber WECs, each moving in six degrees of freedom were carried out both at the Australian Maritime College by Nader et al (2017) and at the COAST laboratory at the University of Plymouth, UK, by Thomas et al (2018a) and Giassi et al (2019b). In the former experiment, the surface elevation was tracked by videogrammic measurements, and the experimentally measured interaction factor was presented for 1-2 floats moving in heave and surge (Nader et al, 2017). In the latter, both a linear damping and an advanced control algorithm based on machine learning and artificial neural networks were used as PTO systems (Thomas et al, 2018b).…”

Section: Physical Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most of the experiments on arrays have been carried out using heaving buoys (Nader et al, 2017), despite the fact that the fullscale WECs may be designed for operation in more degrees of freedom. Several experimental works with waveactivated WECs free to move in multiple degrees of freedom have reported motion instabilities (Tarrant and Meskell, 2016;Gomes et al, 2017), which can often be attributed to the PTO settings and large amplitude motions and can be understood in terms of Mathieu equations (Orszaghova et al, 2019).…”

Section: Validation With Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Advances and Challenges in Wave Energy Park Optimization—A Review

et al. 2020

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A commercial wave energy system will typically consist of many interacting wave energy converters installed in a park. The performance of the park depends on many parameters such as array layout and number of devices, and may be evaluated based on different measures such as energy absorption, electricity quality, or cost of the produced electricity. As wave energy is currently at the stage where several large-scale installations are being planned, optimizing the park performance is an active research area, with many important contributions in the past few years. Here, this research is reviewed, with a focus on identifying the current state of the art, analyzing how realistic, reliable, and relevant the methods and the results are, and outlining directions for future research.

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“…Large array numerical modeling has been done for 9-25 devices in [5]- [7] and for over 1000 devices in [8]. Physical experimental array modeling has been done on OWC in [9] and heaving buoys in [10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Array modeling and testing of fixed OWC type Wave Energy Converters

Bosma¹,

Brekken

Lomónaco

et al. 2020

Int. J. Mar. Ene.

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If wave energy technology is to mature to commercial success, array optimization could play a key role in that process. This paper outlines physical and numerical modeling of an array of five oscillating water column wave energy converters. Numerical model simulations are compared with experimental tank test data for a non-optimal and optimal array layout. Results show a max increase of 12% in average power for regular waves, and 7% for irregular waves between the non-optimized and optimized layouts. The numerical model matches well under many conditions; however, improvement is needed to adjust for phase errors. This paper outlines the process of numerical and physical array testing, providing methodology and results helpful for researchers and developers working with wave energy converter arrays.

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Novel experimental modelling of the hydrodynamic interactions of arrays of wave energy converters

Cited by 18 publications

References 18 publications

Application of photogrammetry for spatial free surface elevation and velocity measurement in wave flumes

Application of photogrammetry for spatial free surface elevation and velocity measurement in wave flumes

Advances and Challenges in Wave Energy Park Optimization—A Review

Array modeling and testing of fixed OWC type Wave Energy Converters

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