Physical–Mathematical Modeling and Simulations for a Feasible Oscillating Water Column Plant

Fabio Caldarola (), Manuela Carini, Alessandro Costarella, Gioia De Raffele and Mario Maiolo
Additional contact information
Fabio Caldarola: Department of Environmental Engineering, Università della Calabria, Cubo 42/B, Ponte Bucci, 87036 Arcavacata di Rende, CS, Italy
Manuela Carini: Department of Environmental Engineering, Università della Calabria, Cubo 42/B, Ponte Bucci, 87036 Arcavacata di Rende, CS, Italy
Alessandro Costarella: Department of Environmental Engineering, Università della Calabria, Cubo 42/B, Ponte Bucci, 87036 Arcavacata di Rende, CS, Italy
Gioia De Raffele: Department of Environmental Engineering, Università della Calabria, Cubo 42/B, Ponte Bucci, 87036 Arcavacata di Rende, CS, Italy
Mario Maiolo: Department of Environmental Engineering, Università della Calabria, Cubo 42/B, Ponte Bucci, 87036 Arcavacata di Rende, CS, Italy

Mathematics, 2025, vol. 13, issue 14, 1-27

Abstract: The focus of this paper is placed on Oscillating Water Column (OWC) systems. The primary aim is to analyze, through both mathematical modeling and numerical simulations, a single module (chamber) of an OWC plant which, in addition to energy production, offers the dual advantage of large-scale integration into port infrastructures or coastal defense structures such as breakwaters, etc. The core challenge lies in optimizing the geometry of the OWC chamber and its associated ducts. A trapezoidal cross-section is adopted, with various front wall inclinations ranging from 90 ° to 45 ° . This geometric parameter significantly affects both the internal compression ratio and the hydrodynamic behavior of incoming and outgoing waves. Certain inclinations revealed increased turbulence and notable interference with waves reflected from the chamber bottom which determined an unexpected drop in efficiency. The optimal performance occurred at an inclination of approximately 55 ° , yielding an efficiency of around 12.8%, because it represents the most advantageous and balanced compromise between counter-trend phenomena. A detailed analysis is carried out on several key parameters for the different configurations (e.g., internal and external wave elevations, crest phase shifts, pressures, hydraulic loads, efficiency, etc.) to reach the most in-depth analysis possible of the complex phenomena that come into play. Lastly, the study also discusses the additional structural and functional benefits of inclined walls over traditional parallelepiped-shaped chambers, both from a structural and construction point of view, and for the possible use for coastal defense.

Keywords: mathematical modeling; numerical simulation; water waves; fluid dynamics; OWC chamber; pressure; energy production (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/13/14/2219/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/13/14/2219/ (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:jmathe:v:13:y:2025:i:14:p:2219-:d:1696862

Access Statistics for this article

Mathematics is currently edited by Ms. Emma He

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