With the recent sharp increases in the price of oil, issues of security of supply, and pressure to honor greenhouse gas emission limits (e.g., the Kyoto protocol), much attention has turned to renewable energy sources to fulfill future increasing energy needs. Wind energy, now a mature technology, has had considerable proliferation, with other sources, such as biomass, solar, and tidal, enjoying somewhat less deployment. Waves provide previously untapped energy potential, and wave energy has been shown to have some favorable variability properties (a perennial issue with many renewables, especially wind), especially when combined with wind energy [1].

/pdf/energy-maximizing-control-of-wave-energy-converters-the-56go405abj.pdf

Energy-Maximizing Control of Wave-Energy Converters: The Development of Control System Technology to Optimize Their Operation

During the past few decades, wave energy has received significant attention for harnessing ocean energy. Industry has proposed many technologies and, based on their working principle, these technologies generally can be categorized into oscillating water columns, point absorbers, overtopping systems, and bottom-hinged systems. In particular, many researchers have focused on modeling the point absorber, which is thought to be the most cost-efficient technology to extract wave energy. To model such devices, several modeling methods have been used such as analytical methods, boundary integral equation methods and Navier–Stokes equation methods. The first two are generally combined with the use of empirical solution to represent the viscous damping effect, while the last one is directly included in the solution. To assist the development of wave energy conversion (WEC) technologies, this paper extensively reviews the methods for modeling point absorbers.

/pdf/a-synthesis-of-numerical-methods-for-modeling-wave-energy-2fstcj9wlt.pdf

A synthesis of numerical methods for modeling wave energy converter-point absorbers

The wave energy sector has made and is still doing a great effort in order to open up a niche in the energy market, working on several and diverse concepts and making advances in all aspects towards more efficient technologies However, economic viability has not been achieved yet, for which maximisation of power production over the full range of sea conditions is crucial Precise mathematical models are essential to accurately reproduce the behaviour, including nonlinear dynamics, and understand the performance of wave energy converters Therefore, nonlinear models must be considered, which are required for power absorption assessment, simulation of devices motion and model-based control systems Main sources of nonlinear dynamics within the entire chain of a wave energy converter - incoming wave trains, wave-structure interaction, power take-off systems or mooring lines- are identified, with especial attention to the wave-device hydrodynamic interaction, and their influence is studied in the present paper for different types of converters In addition, different approaches to model nonlinear wave-device interaction are presented, highlighting their advantages and drawbacks Besides the traditional Navier-Stokes equations or potential flow methods, ‘new’ methods such as system-identification models, smoothed particle hydrodynamics or nonlinear potential flow methods are analysed

/pdf/mathematical-modelling-of-wave-energy-converters-a-review-of-26x5med31l.pdf

Mathematical modelling of wave energy converters: A review of nonlinear approaches

Numerical methods in laminar and turbulent flow

For the research and development (R&D) of wave energy converters (WECs), numerical wave tanks (NWTs) provide an excellent numerical tool, enabling a cost-effective testbed for WEC experimentation, analysis and optimisation. Different methods for simulating the fluid dynamics and fluid structure interaction (FSI) within the NWT have been developed over the years, with increasing levels of fidelity, and associated computational expense. In the past, the high computational requirements largely precluded Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) from being applied to WEC analysis. However, the continual improvement and availability of high performance computing has led to the steady increase of CFD-based NWTs (CNWT) for WEC experiments. No attempt has yet been undertaken to comprehensively review CNWT approaches for WECs. This paper fills this gap and presents a thorough review of high-fidelity numerical modelling of WECs using CNWTs. In addition to collating the published literature, this review tries to make a step towards a best practice guideline for the applications of CFD in the field of wave energy.

/pdf/high-fidelity-numerical-modelling-of-ocean-wave-energy-40v9cfko54.pdf

Lionel Gentaz

Papers

An alternative expression of the time domain free surface Green function for deep water

Comparison of wave generation methods for two-phase VOF solvers