Vortex-induced vibration marine current energy harvesting

Abstract

Limited research examining the optimal power take-off conditions for harnessing marine current energy using vortex-induced vibrations (VIV) has been undertaken to date. The studies that have been conducted have focused on translating cylinder VIV. This paper presents the results of an investigation of the effectiveness of energy extraction from pivoted cylinder systems undergoing vortex induced vibrations. The main goal of the present study was to observe the response of cylinders with a single roll rotational degree of freedom under a range of power take-off (PTO) damping values to determine the optimal power extraction rates achievable. At PTO damping values below optimal, there appears to be little change in the lock-in point and lower response branch amplitude response. This has important consequences for low Reynolds number PTO which is one of the primary advantages in utilising vortex-induced vibration for marine current energy harvesting.