Abstract
Results are presented for the 3D numerical simulation of the water impact of a wave energy converter in free fall and subsequent heave motion. The solver, AMAZON-3D, employs a Riemann-based finite volume method on a Cartesian cut cell mesh. The computational domain includes both air and water regions with the air/water boundary captured automatically as a discontinuity in the density field thereby admitting break up and recombination of the free surface. Temporal discretisation uses the artificial compressibility method and a dual time stepping strategy. Cartesian cut cells are used to provide a boundary-fitted grid at all times. The code is validated by experimental data including the free fall of a cone and free decay of a single Manchester Bobber component.
Highlights
A popular class of wave energy converter (WEC) consists of floating bodies which oscillate with one or more degrees of freedom and whose horizontal dimensions are small in comparison to the wave length
Results are presented for the 3D numerical simulation of the water impact of a wave energy converter in free fall and subsequent heave motion
The code is validated by experimental data including the free fall of a cone and free decay of a single Manchester Bobber component
Summary
A popular class of wave energy converter (WEC) consists of floating bodies which oscillate with one or more degrees of freedom and whose horizontal dimensions are small in comparison to the wave length Such bodies are point absorbers and they essentially convert their heave motion into useful energy. Intensive research is being carried out on shape optimization of the point absorbers from the point of view of power absorption (see Alves et al [4] and Vantorre et al [5]) but the issue of their survivability has not been fully addressed These point absorbers may be subject to high wave loading during storms and may be subject to slamming as they are tossed around by large waves. There is a great need for simulation tools that can predict the wave impact loads on these point absorbers
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