A Numerical Study of the Effect of Wave Amplitude on the Efficiency of a Wave Power System |
| G. Ozdamara, Y. Pekbeyb, A. Ozdamarb
aEge University, Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 35100 Izmir, Turkey bEge University, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 35100 Izmir, Turkey |
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| An oscillating water column wave energy system consists of a barrier (front wall), a wave turbine, an electric generator and an air chamber (air column). The parts of a system must be improved to increase efficiency of the system in general. The dimensions of the air chamber affect directly the efficiency of the system because the conversion of the wave power into the air movement is realized here, thus the wave parameters are important. One of the characteristic parameters for waves is their amplitude. In this study, the system is simulated in 2D and solved numerically to see the effect of water wave amplitude on the efficiency of energy system. In the design of this system the barrier length is constant. The numerical modelling involves computational fluid dynamics analysis and optimization of the oscillating water column. The Navier-Stokes equations and the continuity equation are numerically solved based on the finite volume method using the commercial ANSYS Fluent code. In the numerical model the flow is assumed to be inviscid, unsteady, and incompressible. The efficiency of oscillating water column system is first increased up to 67% and then decreases to 50% with the increase of the wave amplitude. |
DOI:10.12693/APhysPolA.134.153 topics: environmental physics, efficiency of the oscillating water column, optimization, finite volume method, wave energy |