Abstract
The development of new wave energy converters (WEC) usually involves small-scale experiments in physical wave tanks. It is an expensive and time consuming process that can be partially replaced by CFD models. With CFD approach, it is possible to numerically simulate complex flows with high accuracy at low cost. This article describes an approach based on guidelines taken from literature review, adopted to develop and validate a CFD based numerical wave tank (CNWT) of a novel multipurpose wave energy converter named REEFS. An incremental validation procedure was adopted, beginning with wave-only tests followed by wave-structure interaction tests. Comparisons of numerical and laboratorial results were performed for both cases, showing a maximum deviation of 7% in wave-only tests. Snapshot comparisons of numerical and experimental 3D views of the free water surface were also performed to check the numerical model behavior across the spatial domain. The results showed that the CNWT model can adequately simulate the global wave surface profile, as well as local phenomena such as the Venturi aspiration effect that typically occurs near the stay vanes of the device, encouraging the adoption of this model for REEFS WEC analysis.
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