Renewable Energy, Vol.160, 1445-1457, 2020
Performance estimation of resonance-enhanced dual-buoy wave energy converter using coupled time-domain simulation
This paper presents the modeling methodology and performance evaluation of the resonance-enhanced dual-buoy WEC (Wave Energy Converter) by HEM (hydrodynamic & electro-magnetic) fully-coupleddynamics time-domain-simulation program. The numerical results are systematically compared with the authors' 1/6-scale experiment. With a direct-drive linear generator, the WEC consists of dual floating cylinders and a moon-pool between the cylinders, which can utilize three resonance phenomena from moon-pool dynamics as well as heave motions of inner and outer buoys. The contact and friction between the two buoys observed in the experiment are also properly modeled in the time-domain simulation by the Coulomb-friction model. Moon-pool resonance peaks significantly exaggerated in linear potential theory are empirically adjusted through comparisons with measured values. A systematic comparative study between the simulations and experiments with and without PTO (power-take-off) is conducted, and the relative heave displacements/velocities and power outputs are well matched. Then, parametric studies are carried out with the simulation program to determine optimum generator parameters. The performance with various wave conditions is also assessed. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords:Wave energy converter;Hydrodynamic-electro-magnetic coupling;Experiment vs simulation;Dual-cylinder dynamics with linear generator;Heave and moon-pool resonance;Time-domain fully-coupled simulation