Session: 08-06-01 non-presentations

Paper Number: 123965

123965 - Analysis of Power Performance for Non-Radial Symmetric Wec Buoys Within a Wave Park Using Co-Simulation Methodology 

Wave energy as a renewable energy source has obtained more attention in recent years due to its large reservation and sustainability features. Many wave energy converter (WEC) concepts have arisen on the global market to harvest wave energy. They have different working principles and need careful validation before large-scale commercialization. The validation should not only include single-WEC testing but also cover multiple-WEC testing. Multiple WECs that form a wave energy park can produce more energy, lowering costs by sharing moorings and anchors, reducing installation costs, and other equipment. However, the interaction effects within a wave energy park caused by hydrodynamic diffraction and radiation may reduce power performance, which should be prevented before installation.

 

This study focuses on the modeling and analyses of a new point absorber WEC concept, proposed by NoviOcean AB (https://noviocean.energy), that has a non-radial symmetry buoy geometry. Consequently, this concept cannot behave unidirectionally with respect to incident waves. A park installed with such units will also not behave unidirectionally. These effects are different from prevailing point absorber concepts with radial symmetric buoys. Besides, the new concept has a seabed-fixed piston.

 

To model the relative motion between the piston and the buoy, a co-simulation procedure is developed. The hydrodynamic forces and WEC motions are calculated by the Ansys Aqwa solver and the Ansys rigid dynamics solver, respectively. Communications between the two solvers are carried out by implementing a co-simulation in Simulink, which uses the functional mock-up interfaces of the two solvers. This modeling procedure is applied to not only a single WEC but also a 14-WEC wave energy park. The influence of hydrodynamic interaction on WEC motions and power performance are evaluated for the wave energy park.

 

This study has two main contributions. Firstly, it presents a novel way to simulate WECs including multiple components with relative motions which, in previous simulation procedures, is usually simplified and even ignored due to the limitation of simulation tools. Secondly, it provides an estimation of the power performance of a 14-WEC wave energy park under varying sea state conditions with considerations of hydrodynamic interactions. This can guide wave energy park designs aiming for optimum power production.

Presenting Author: Xinyuan Shao Chalmers University of Technology

Presenting Author Biography: Xinyuan Shao is a PhD candidate. Her main academic focus is on upscaling a single-unit wave energy converter (WEC) to an array system by doing system engineering, risk analyses, and fully coupled hydrodynamic and structure response simulations.

Authors:

Xinyuan Shao Chalmers University of Technology
Hua-Dong Yao Chalmers University of Technology
Jonas W Ringsberg Chalmers University of Technology
Jan Skjöldhammer Novige AB