Abstract
A plate-wave energy converter (pWEC) moored in front of a floating stationary breakwater is considered. The pWEC is composed of a submerged flexible plate with piezoelectric layers bonded to both faces of it. Hence the elastic motion of the plate excited by water waves can be transformed into useful electricity due to the piezoelectric effect. To evaluate the performance of the breakwater-attached pWEC in terms of wave power absorption and wave attenuation, a hydroelastic model based on linear potential flow theory and the eigenfunction matching method is developed with the electromechanical and the hydrodynamic problems of the pWEC coupled together. The pWEC can be either simply supported or clamped at the edge. A multi-parameter analysis is carried out with the employment of the present model. Effects of the width, submergence and edge types of the plate, together with the scales of the breakwater, including its width and draft, on wave power absorption and wave attenuation, are examined. As the pWEC moves towards a deeper position, the main peaks of the frequency response of the wave power absorption efficiency become lower and narrower. In contrast, its effect on wave attenuation is limited.
Highlights
Since the 1790s, many concepts for wave energy conversion have been proposed [1], the majority of which can be classified into five types: oscillating water column (OWC), overtopping device, point absorber, oscillating wave surge converter and raft-type device
The validated model is adapted to study the effects of the plate-wave energy converter (pWEC) width, pWEC submergence, breakwater width and breakwater draft, together with the type of the pWEC edge, on wave power absorption and wave attenuation of the floating breakwater integrated pWEC
A pWEC moored in front of a floating breakwater is considered
Summary
Since the 1790s, many concepts for wave energy conversion have been proposed [1], the majority of which can be classified into five types: oscillating water column (OWC), overtopping device, point absorber, oscillating wave surge converter and raft-type device. To investigate the performance of OWCs installed along a straight coast/breakwater, Martins-Rivas & Mei [6] and Zheng et al [7, 8] developed three-dimensional (3D) theoretical models and revealed that wave power extraction from the coast/breakwater integrated OWCs for a certain range of wave conditions can be significantly enhanced due to the constructive coast/breakwater reflection effect. The proposed model is first validated by comparing the present results with published data and applied to examine the effect of the width, submergence and edge conditions (i.e., supported and clamped) of the pWEC and the width and draft of the breakwater on wave power absorption and wave attenuation.
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