Title
Hydrodynamic optimization of the geometry of a sloped-motion wave energy converter
Date Issued
01 March 2020
Access level
metadata only access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
Publisher(s)
Elsevier Ltd
Abstract
This paper presents the hydrodynamic optimization study of CECO, a point absorber wave energy converter (WEC) with sloped motion. To maintain the overall costs, the characteristic dimensions of the optimized solution were not allowed to change significantly. Instead, different geometrical shapes have been generated and numerically investigated based on the exhaustive search method with a heuristic approach. The assessment of the different geometries was based on a new index - the hydrodynamic capacity for wave energy conversion - which considers that the theoretical maximum WEC's absorbed power from irregular waves is obtained assuming that for each individual wave component of the sea spectrum, the PTO system can operate with its optimum damping coefficient. The optimum geometry obtained is able to harvest twice as much wave energy than the original design of CECO. The numerical outcomes have been validated with the results of experimental tests with the new geometry. Unlike “pure” heaving WECs, a sloped-motion WEC can achieve natural oscillation periods within a broad range by controlling the inclination of the motion path, the submergence level or the shape of its floaters. Therefore, CECO can be tuned to any given sea state and avoid the need for active complex control strategies.
Volume
199
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Ingeniería oceanográfica
Subjects
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85078878443
Source
Ocean Engineering
ISSN of the container
00298018
Sponsor(s)
This work was financially supported by: Project PTDC/MAR-TEC/6984/2014 - POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016882 - funded by FEDER funds through COMPETE2020 - Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização (POCI) and by national funds through FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia , I.P.
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus