Heave attitude self-sustaining vs. rocker-type wave energy converter: A comparative study using both experimental and numerical methods

Mingqi Yu, Feifei Cao, Hongda Shi, Hongjian Wu, Xu Ma, Weimin Wu and Xiantao Zhang

Energy, 2025, vol. 322, issue C

Abstract: A heave attitude self-sustaining wave energy converter (HASS-WEC) is proposed for solving the problem of changing heave attitude caused by the circular motion of traditional rocker-type WEC (R-WEC). Inspired by the properties of the parallelogram, the HASS-WEC retains the tidal level adaptability and maintenance convenience offered by the rocker-driven WEC and achieves energy extraction stably in heave mode. The performance of HASS-WEC and R-WEC is evaluated and compared through a series of physical experiments and numerical work. The time-domain numerical model takes into account the viscosity and is validated with measured data from experiments. The comparative study focused on the motion response characteristics, power generation, and capture efficiency of the WEC with different operating modes. The results indicated that the heave attitude self-sustaining structure improves the capture efficiency compared to R-WEC, with the optimal capture width ratio increased by 14.6 % under the load of Coulomb damping. The resonance properties of HASS-WEC and R-WEC are significantly different, with HASS-WEC being more suitable for short-period waves. Additionally, although the HASS-WEC has the advantage in maximum conversion efficiency, the capture performance of R-WEC is more satisfactory than that of HASS-WEC when waves incident from the 180° direction.

Keywords: Wave energy; Comparative study; Wave tank experiment; Capture efficiency; Attitude self-sustaining (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:322:y:2025:i:c:s0360544225012551

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2025.135613

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