Wave energy converter physical model design and testing: The case of floating oscillating-water-columns

Abstract

The quest for exploiting the ocean resources and understanding its behaviour has been a challenge with increasing needs for innovation and technology. Model testing is an essential step in offshore renewable energy technology development. It involves challenges that require experience and guidance. Costly mistakes might arise with the subsequent waste of time and resources. This paper presents the model design and testing processes as part of wave energy projects and the results of experimental testing of two types of oscillating-water-column (OWC) wave energy converters (WEC). The model design aims at the creation of a reduced-scale model to simulate the physical phenomena found in full-scale devices. It is a process that requires several skills and an adequate compromise among all variables. This design involves several approaches as different physical phenomena do not follow the same similarity conditions, requiring adjustments in scale, materials, and other relevant properties. Besides, the model testing process comprises the necessary planning and actions to execute the tests and post-processing of data. This process is addressed here through model design and testing of two WECs: the coaxial-duct and the sparbuoy OWCs. The configurations have been designed and studied for large-scale energy production and small-scale power in oceanographic applications. Although the devices are both OWCs, the designs exhibit significant differences. The development process of the models and results are presented for the two OWC devices. Freedecay tests, hydrodynamic performance and mooring tension results are presented and discussed. These may serve as guidelines and numerical modelling validation.

Design and Construction of a Novel Simple and Low-Cost Test Bench Point-Absorber Wave Energy Converter Emulator System

“…The water surface is still, and the WEC (point absorber) oscillates on its surface, generating radiated waves, which react with the point absorber as radiation forces. The forces are computed using Equation (20) [37,38].…”

“…−−−−→ F radiation = body wetted sur f ace p radiated waven dS (20) For a frequency-dependent domain, the radiation force is [37,38]:…”

“…It consists of challenges that demand guidance and experience. Hence, costly mistakes could result in a waste of resources and time [20].…”

A Novel 2-D Point Absorber Numerical Modelling Method

“…However, to present, the WECs that reached a high technology readiness level and good commercial progress are very few. Within the most promising WEC concepts, there are oscillating water columns [5,6], oscillating body or pivoting WECs [7][8][9][10][11], overtopping devices [12][13][14] and offshore point absorbers (PAs) [15][16][17]. The latest, due to reliability and minimal complexity, represent an important class of WECs [18].…”

Compact floating wave energy converters arrays: Mooring loads and survivability through scale physical modelling

“…To date, no significant work has been dedicated to the design of such systems. Due to the complexity of the system, experimental tests are still the most practical method to obtain reliable results, even though some limitations exist and the costs are relatively high [23]. Most experimental studies of WEC arrays concern mainly devices reacting against a fixed reference (i.e.…”