<p>This paper presents the numerical study of a torus-shaped point-absorber wave energy converter attached to a rigid arm that is hinged to a fixed reference. It is assumed that the arm and the torus form a single rigid-body, thus the only actual degree-of-freedom is the rotation around the hinge. The hydrodynamics of the torus is modeled in frequency domain and considering the generalized mode of motion. The formulation is then utilized for the calculation of the absorbed power in irregular waves generated based on JONSWAP spectrum. An optimization code is developed in order to obtain the best torus and arm geometry, as well as the power take-off parameters, taking as objective function the maximization of total wave absorbed power. The main geometrical parameters considered in the optimization process are&nbsp;the length of the arm including the outer and inner diameters, center of gravity, and draft of the torus. In this paper, the power take-off system is modeled as a simplified damper and supplementary mass system, where the parameters are optimized for the phase control of the wave energy converter in each sea state, whereas the optimization process is performed with genetic algorithm. Finally, the optimal results are verified in each sea state considering the design limitations.</p>

Optimization of a Torus-Shaped Wave Energy Converter Attached to a Hinged Arm

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

OMAE 2021

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