3D numerical investigation on reservoir system for an overtopping wave energy convertor

Abstract

Overtopping Wave Energy Convertor (OWEC) is an offshore wave energy convertor, which comprises the circular ramp and reservoir. It collects the overtopped waves and converting water pressure head into electric power through the hydro-turbines installed in the vertical duct, which is fixed in the sea bed. The performance of OWEC can be represented by the operating water heads of the device, which depends on the amount of the wave water overtopping into the reservoir. In the present paper, the reservoir with the duct connecting to the sea water are studied in the 3D numerical wave tank, which has been developed based on the computational fluid dynamics software Fluent 6.3. Both the overtopping motion and the discharges of the reservoir are investigated together, and several shape parameters and incident wave conditions are varied to demonstrate their effects on the performance of OWEC. Copyright © 2010 by The International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers.