Ocean Energy Systems Wave Energy Modeling Task 10.4: Numerical Modeling of a Fixed Oscillating Water Column

Harry B. Bingham, Yi-Hsiang Yu, Kim Nielsen, Thanh Toan Tran, Kyong-Hwan Kim, Sewan Park, Keyyong Hong, Hafiz Ahsan Said, Thomas Kelly, John V. Ringwood, Robert W. Read, Edward Ransley, Scott Brown and Deborah Greaves
Additional contact information
Harry B. Bingham: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark (DTU), DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
Yi-Hsiang Yu: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), 15013 Denver West Parkway, Golden, CO 80401, USA
Kim Nielsen: Ramboll Group A/S, Hannemanns Allé 53, DK-2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark
Thanh Toan Tran: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), 15013 Denver West Parkway, Golden, CO 80401, USA
Kyong-Hwan Kim: Korea Research Institute of Ships and Ocean Engineering (KRISO), 1312-32 Yuseong-daero, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34103, Korea
Sewan Park: Korea Research Institute of Ships and Ocean Engineering (KRISO), 1312-32 Yuseong-daero, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34103, Korea
Keyyong Hong: Korea Research Institute of Ships and Ocean Engineering (KRISO), 1312-32 Yuseong-daero, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34103, Korea
Hafiz Ahsan Said: Center for Ocean Energy Research, Maynooth University, W23 F2H6 Co. Kildare, Ireland
Thomas Kelly: Center for Renewable Energy, Dundalk Institute of Technology, A91 K584 Dundalk, Ireland
John V. Ringwood: Center for Ocean Energy Research, Maynooth University, W23 F2H6 Co. Kildare, Ireland
Robert W. Read: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark (DTU), DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
Edward Ransley: School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics, University of Plymouth, Plymouth PL4 8AA, UK
Scott Brown: School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics, University of Plymouth, Plymouth PL4 8AA, UK
Deborah Greaves: School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics, University of Plymouth, Plymouth PL4 8AA, UK

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 6, 1-35

Abstract: This paper reports on an ongoing international effort to establish guidelines for numerical modeling of wave energy converters, initiated by the International Energy Agency Technology Collaboration Program for Ocean Energy Systems. Initial results for point absorbers were presented in previous work, and here we present results for a breakwater-mounted Oscillating Water Column (OWC) device. The experimental model is at scale 1:4 relative to a full-scale installation in a water depth of 12.8 m. The power-extracting air turbine is modeled by an orifice plate of 1–2% of the internal chamber surface area. Measurements of chamber surface elevation, air flow through the orifice, and pressure difference across the orifice are compared with numerical calculations using both weakly-nonlinear potential flow theory and computational fluid dynamics. Both compressible- and incompressible-flow models are considered, and the effects of air compressibility are found to have a significant influence on the motion of the internal chamber surface. Recommendations are made for reducing uncertainties in future experimental campaigns, which are critical to enable firm conclusions to be drawn about the relative accuracy of the numerical models. It is well-known that boundary element method solutions of the linear potential flow problem (e.g., WAMIT) are singular at infinite frequency when panels are placed directly on the free surface. This is problematic for time-domain solutions where the value of the added mass matrix at infinite frequency is critical, especially for OWC chambers, which are modeled by zero-mass elements on the free surface. A straightforward rational procedure is described to replace ad-hoc solutions to this problem that have been proposed in the literature.

Keywords: wave energy; experimental measurements; numerical modeling; simulation; boundary element method; computational fluid dynamics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/6/1718/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/6/1718/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:6:p:1718-:d:520560

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().