PARAMETRIC STUDY ON WAVE OVERTOPPING DUE TO WEDGE ANGLE AND FREEBOARD OF WAVECAT WAVE ENERGY CONVERTER

Abstract

Wave energy presents great potential in many coastal regions. This paper deals with WaveCat, a new wave energy converter (WEC) recently patented by the University of Santiago de Compostela. The WaveCat has two hulls, like a catamaran, and it operates according to the overtopping principle. The higher the overtopping amount collected in the reservoir, the higher the energy generated. The wedge angle and freeboard are two important parameters that contribute to a higher overtopping discharge. However, knowledge on the influence that wedge angle and freeboard have on wave overtopping is limited. Hence, this study aims to extend the borders of available knowledge by investigating the influence that two parameters have on wave overtopping discharge through simulation using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The WEC was designed in the AutoCAD software. Then, the parameters were simulated using CFD. The parameters of wave height and wave period with a specified range are added and the relationship between wedge angle, freeboard and wave overtopping performance of WaveCat were analysed. The validation results showed good agreement between the simulation and physical experiment, with a percentage error of within 20%. The results are useful for further investigation related to optimising WaveCat parameters for selecting the best performance.