Oscillating-water-column wave energy converters and air turbines: A review

Hydrodynamic optimization of an axisymmetric floating oscillating water column for wave energy conversion

Dynamics and optimization of the OWC spar buoy wave energy converter

Towards simulating floating offshore oscillating water column converters with Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics

In the past twenty years, the use of wave energy systems has significantly increased, generally depending on the oscillating water column (OWC) concept. Wells turbine is one of the most efficient OWC technologies. This article provides an updated and a comprehensive account of the state of the art research on Wells turbine. Hence, it draws a roadmap for the contemporary challenges which may hinder future reliance on such systems in the renewable energy sector. In particular, the article is concerned with the research directions and methodologies which aim at enhancing the performance and efficiency of Wells turbine. The article also provides a thorough discussion of the use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) for performance modeling and design optimization of Wells turbine. It is found that a numerical model using the CFD code can be employed successfully to calculate the performance characteristics of W-T as well as other experimental and analytical methods. The increase of research papers about CFD, especially in the last five years, indicates that there is a trend that considerably depends on the CFD method.

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Wells turbine for wave energy conversion: a review

This paper presents the results of an experimental test programme and theoretical analysis of the hydrodynamic design of wave powered axi-symmetric navigation buoys. A two degree of freedom system with power extraction damping the relative motion of the two heave modes is considered. Results are presented for a theoretical model which has been verified experimentally.

F. A. McPeake

Papers

Design Optimization of Axi-symmetric Tail Tube Buoys