Experimental and numerical comparisons of a dual-flap floating oscillating surge wave energy converter in regular waves

Journal Article · Mon Nov 25 00:00:00 EST 2019 · Ocean Engineering

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oceaneng.2019.106575· OSTI ID:1579316

Ruehl, Kelley ^[1]; Forbush, Dominic D. ^[1]; Yu, Yi-Hsiang ^[2]; Tom, Nathan ^[2]

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1. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
2. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

The floating oscillating surge wave energy converter (FOSWEC) is a wave energy converter that was designed, built, and tested to develop an open-access data set for the purpose of numerical model validation. This paper details the experimental testing of the 1:33-scale FOSWEC in a directional wave basin, and compares experimental data to numerical simulations using the wave energy converter simulator (WEC-Sim) open-source code. The FOSWEC consists of a floating platform moving in heave, pitch, and surge, and two pitching flaps. Power is extracted through relative motion between each of the flaps and the platform. The device was designed to constrain different degrees of freedom so that it could be configured into a variety of operating conditions with varying dynamics. The FOSWEC was tested in a range of different conditions including: static offset, free decay, forced oscillation, wave excitation, and dynamic response to regular waves. In our work, results from the range of experimental tests are presented and compared to numerical simulations using the WEC-Sim code.

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Water Power Technologies Office
• Grant/Contract Number: AC36-08GO28308; NA0003525; AC04-94AL85000
• OSTI ID: 1579316
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 1595016; OSTI ID: 1682408
• Report Number(s): NREL/JA-5000-73456; SAND-2019-14408J
• Journal Information: Ocean Engineering, Vol. 196; ISSN 0029-8018
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

16 TIDAL AND WAVE POWER
wave energy
experimental testing
numerical simulation
WEC-Sim
validation