Finite Element Modeling and Simulation of a Submerged Wave Energy Converter System for Application to Oceanic Islands in Tropical Atlantic

Nadège Bouchonneau (), Arnaud Coutrey, Vivianne Marie Bruère, Moacyr Araújo and Alex Costa da Silva
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Nadège Bouchonneau: Mechanical Engineering Department, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife 50740-550, PE, Brazil
Arnaud Coutrey: ENSTA Bretagne, 29200 Brest, France
Vivianne Marie Bruère: Mechanical Engineering Department, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife 50740-550, PE, Brazil
Moacyr Araújo: Oceanography Department, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife 50740-550, PE, Brazil
Alex Costa da Silva: Oceanography Department, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife 50740-550, PE, Brazil

Energies, 2023, vol. 16, issue 4, 1-17

Abstract: The development of efficient and sustainable marine energy converter systems is a great challenge, especially in remote areas such as oceanic islands. This work proposes a numerical modeling methodology to assess the mechanical behavior of a wave energy converter (WEC) to be applied outside Fernando de Noronha Island (Pernambuco, Brazil). First, oceanographic data collected in situ were analyzed to determine different sea state scenarios in the region. The Airy theory and second-order Stokes’ theory were used to obtain the velocity profiles for the maximum and operational swells. These profiles were then implemented in a flow model developed in COMSOL Multiphysics software (Burlington, MA, USA) to calculate the wave distributions of pressure on the WEC structure. Finally, wave pressure distributions obtained from simulations were implemented in a static analysis of the system by the finite element method using SolidWorks (France). The results highlighted the most critical system inclination and the parts of the WEC structure more likely to be damaged under extreme swell conditions. The 0° inclination was the most critical situation, leading to the exceeding of the elastic limits of some parts of the WEC structure. The methodology developed in this work showed to be efficient to study and propose project improvement for the strength of the WEC system.

Keywords: tropical Atlantic; numerical coupling methodology; mechanical behavior; wave energy converter; finite element method; pressure wave distributions (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: 2023
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