<p>A lot of research has been done on wave energy converter (WEC). The behavior of the oscillating water column in an oscillating water column (OWC) WEC is extremely complex due to the interaction of waves, air, and turbines. As a result, several problems remain before it can be put to practical use. One of them is that the effect of the difference in scale between the small-scale experimental model and the full-scale model is not clear.</p><p>In this study, several OWC models of different scales and geometries were used for forced oscillation tests. The scale of the wave tank was 7 m wide, 24 m long and 1.0 m deep. In the static water experiment, we measured the air pressure and water surface fluctuations in the air chamber. Three shapes of the models used in the experiments, a bottom-open box like shape, a bottom-open manifold type shape and a front-open box like shape, were fabricated. Furthermore, 1/1, 1/2 and 1/4 scale models were fabricated for each shape to investigate the effects of scale and shape differences on the air chamber characteristics. Numerical calculations were also carried out by applying the linear potential theory to compare the results with the experimental values. As a result, it was confirmed that the effects of the air chamber shape and scale on the air pressure fluctuation and water surface fluctuation inside the OWC system.</p>

Scale and Configuration Effects of an Airchamber on Pto of Oscillating Water Column Type Wave Energy Converters

Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/OMAE/OMAE2021/volume/85116

OMAE 2021

Supporting the need among researchers worldwide for additional online and multimedia content, ASME now offers the ASME Conference Video Collection. This platform will collect and provide long-term access to conference presentation videos, encompassing all technology areas within ASME's technical conference and events program. About 30,000-40,000 engineers across all mechanical engineering and related disciplines participate in ASME conferences each year. This includes authors of approximately 6,000 to 8,000 technical papers published by ASME, the majority of whom also submit video presentations for our virtual conferences. The video collection will be available as an add-on to existing product packages or as a separate subscription.