Abstract
AbstractThe wave energy conversion into electricity has been increasingly studied in the last years. There are several proposed converters. Among them, the oscillatingwater column (OWC) device has been widespread evaluated in literature. In this context, the main goal of this work was to perform a comparison between two kinds of physical constraints in the chimney of the OWC device, aiming to represent numerically the pressure drop imposed by the turbine on the air flow inside the OWC. To do so, the conservation equations of mass,momentumand one equation for the transport of volumetric fraction were solved with the finite volume method (FVM). To tackle thewater-air interaction, the multiphase model volume of fluid (VOF)was used. Initially, an asymmetric constraint inserted in chimney duct was reproduced and investigated. Subsequently, a second strategywas proposed,where a symmetric physical constraint with an elliptical shapewas analyzed. Itwas thus possible to establish a strategy to reproduce the pressure drop in OWC devices caused by the presence of the turbine, as well as to generate its characteristic curve.
Highlights
Nowadays, the investments in exploration of new energy sources are growing, especially in those called renewable energy sources
Renewables are mainly focused on the utilization of solar, wind, biomass and geothermal sources
For constraint A it can be noticed that the increase of d1 leads to an increase of P hyd−root mean square (RMS) in the device, especially for d1 ≥ 1.1176 where the magnitude of P hyd had a step increase
Summary
The investments in exploration of new energy sources are growing, especially in those called renewable energy sources. Renewables are mainly focused on the utilization of solar, wind, biomass and geothermal sources. The diversification of sources should be a target to reach in order to expand and vary the choice [1]. This kind of energy can help to comply with the energetic demand of the world, which had a global energy consumption in 2011 of nearly 1.6 × 107 MW, 60% higher than that consumed in 1980 [2]. The main source of energy to reach this demand has been based on the consumption of fossil fuels. Among several ways to obtain energy from renewable sources, the conversion of the ocean wave energy into electrical power can be an attractive alternative for countries with large coastal regions, such as Brazil
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