A hybrid, porous breakwater-Oscillating Water Column(OWC) Wave Energy Converter(WEC) system is put forward and its hydrodynamic performance is investigated using the fully nonlinear, open-source computational fluid dy...A hybrid, porous breakwater-Oscillating Water Column(OWC) Wave Energy Converter(WEC) system is put forward and its hydrodynamic performance is investigated using the fully nonlinear, open-source computational fluid dynamics(CFD) model, OpenFOAM. The permeable structure is positioned at the weather side of the OWC device and adjoined to its front wall. A numerical modelling approach is employed in which the interstices within the porous structure are explicitly defined. This permits the flow field development within the porous structure and at the OWC front wall to be observed. The WEC device is defined as a land-fixed, semi-submerged OWC chamber. A range of regular incident waves are generated at the inlet within the numerical tank. The OWC efficiency and the forces on the structure are examined. Results are compared for the simulation cases in which the porous component is present or absent in front of the OWC chamber. It is found that the incorporation of the porous component has minimal effect on the hydrodynamic efficiency of the OWC, reducing the efficiency by less than 5%. Nevertheless,the forces on the front wall of the OWC can be reduced by up to 20% at the higher wave steepness investigated,through inclusion of the porous structure at the OWC front wall. These findings have considerable implications for the design of hybrid OWC-breakwater systems, most importantly in terms of enhancing the durability and survivability of OWC WECs without significant loss of operational efficiency.展开更多
基金financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51679036 and 52011530183)Liaoning Revitalization Talents Program (Grant No. XLYC2002033)+1 种基金Liaoning BaiQianWan Talents Program (Grant No. 2020921007)EPSRC Project (Grant No. EP/R007519/1)
文摘A hybrid, porous breakwater-Oscillating Water Column(OWC) Wave Energy Converter(WEC) system is put forward and its hydrodynamic performance is investigated using the fully nonlinear, open-source computational fluid dynamics(CFD) model, OpenFOAM. The permeable structure is positioned at the weather side of the OWC device and adjoined to its front wall. A numerical modelling approach is employed in which the interstices within the porous structure are explicitly defined. This permits the flow field development within the porous structure and at the OWC front wall to be observed. The WEC device is defined as a land-fixed, semi-submerged OWC chamber. A range of regular incident waves are generated at the inlet within the numerical tank. The OWC efficiency and the forces on the structure are examined. Results are compared for the simulation cases in which the porous component is present or absent in front of the OWC chamber. It is found that the incorporation of the porous component has minimal effect on the hydrodynamic efficiency of the OWC, reducing the efficiency by less than 5%. Nevertheless,the forces on the front wall of the OWC can be reduced by up to 20% at the higher wave steepness investigated,through inclusion of the porous structure at the OWC front wall. These findings have considerable implications for the design of hybrid OWC-breakwater systems, most importantly in terms of enhancing the durability and survivability of OWC WECs without significant loss of operational efficiency.
