Numerical and experimental study on absorber-type wave energy converters concentrically arranged on an octagonal platform

Abstract

Present study considers the performance of a truss-type octagonal platform coupled with multiple wave energy converters (WECs). A numerical model was established to investigate multi-body hydrodynamic interaction between an octagonal platform and absorber-type wave energy converters utilizing CFD tool. Firstly, we analyzed the hydrodynamic performance and absorption power of the isolated WEC under different waves. The numerical results were compared with the physical experimental data to validate the proposed numerical method. Then the effects of the connection type and connection angle between the float arm and float were investigated numerically. Based on the numerical results, the fixed-type WEC with a zero deg connection angle is selected as the final design. Finally, the numerical simulation of multi-point-absorber circularly arranged on the octagonal platform was carried out. The numerical results demonstrated that the multi-body interaction has a remarkable influence on the absorption power and, therefore, it cannot be neglected when evaluate the performance of whole system.