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A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "A3: Wind, Wave and Tidal Energy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2022) | Viewed by 20064
Please submit your paper and select the Journal "Energies" and the Special Issue "Wave Energy System Hydrodynamics Modeling and Application of High-Performance Computing" via: https://susy.mdpi.com/user/manuscripts/upload?journal=energies. Please contact the journal editor Adele Min ([email protected]) before submitting.

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Dr. Yi-Hsiang Yu

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Department of Civil Engineering, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu 30010, Taiwan
Interests: wave energy; high-performance computing; wave resources characterization; numerical wave tank; fluid structure interaction; design optimization; grid integration
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Dear Colleagues,

The simulation of wave energy converter systems and arrays is a complex multiphysics modeling challenge, and tools must be capable of capturing the interactions between wave energy converter systems, the complex ocean environment, and the electric grid. Specifically, tools must model the coupled interactions between relevant fluid, structural, control, and electrical system dynamics. Further, models must resolve both dynamics of relevant device subsystems, including mooring and power take-off systems. The availability of high-performance computing resources and the capability of modeling tools has significantly increased in recent years. This has, for the first time, made simulations of wave energy converters that resolve all relevant physical phenomena possible and enabled the R&D community to study the wave energy resource, along with the design, performance, and optimization of wave energy converters at a level of detail not previously possible.

We would like to invite papers dealing with the application of high-performance computing for wave energy converter modeling. Specific topics include but are not limited to:

Development and implementation of numerical wave tanks, including high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations and fully nonlinear time-domain potential flow methods;
Wave resource characterization studies;
Device array interaction and layout optimization;
Fluid structure interaction, such as coupling between CFD for the fluid domain and finite element analysis (FEA) for the structure domain, particularly for advanced and flexible material applications;
System design and innovation, including co-design, system optimization methods, and the application of machine learning;
Grid integration analysis, including system cost modeling for utility-scale markets, microgrids and coastal resiliency applications.

Dr. Yi-Hsiang Yu
Guest Editor

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Keywords

wave energy
wave resources characterization
numerical wave tank
fluid structure interaction
design optimization
grid integration

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 2692 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Comparison and Validation of Hydrodynamic Theories for Wave Energy Converter Modelling

by Matthew Leary, Curtis Rusch, Zhe Zhang and Bryson Robertson

Energies 2021, 14(13), 3959; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14133959 - 1 Jul 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2321

Abstract

Dynamic Wave Energy Converter (WEC) models utilize a wide variety of fundamental hydrodynamic theories. When incorporating novel hydrodynamic theories into numerical models, there are distinct impacts on WEC rigid body motions, cable dynamics, and final power production. This paper focuses on developing an understanding of the influence several refined hydrodynamic theories have on WEC dynamics, including weakly nonlinear Froude-Krylov and hydrostatic forces, body-to-body interactions, and dynamic cable modelling. All theories have evolved from simpler approaches and are of importance to a wide array of WEC archetypes. This study quantifies the impact these theories have on modelling accuracy through a WEC case study. Theoretical differences are first explored in a regular sea state. Subsequently, numerical validation efforts are performed against field data following wave reconstruction techniques. Comparisons of significance are WEC motion and cable tension. It is shown that weakly nonlinear Froude-Krylov and hydrostatic force calculations and dynamic cable modelling both significantly improve simulated WEC dynamics. However, body-to-body interactions are not found to impact simulated WEC dynamics. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wave Energy System Hydrodynamics Modeling and Application of High-Performance Computing)

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35 pages, 6985 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Ocean Energy Systems Wave Energy Modeling Task 10.4: Numerical Modeling of a Fixed Oscillating Water Column

by Harry B. Bingham, Yi-Hsiang Yu, Kim Nielsen, Thanh Toan Tran, Kyong-Hwan Kim, Sewan Park, Keyyong Hong, Hafiz Ahsan Said, Thomas Kelly, John V. Ringwood, Robert W. Read, Edward Ransley, Scott Brown and Deborah Greaves

Energies 2021, 14(6), 1718; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14061718 - 19 Mar 2021

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 3442

Abstract

This paper reports on an ongoing international effort to establish guidelines for numerical modeling of wave energy converters, initiated by the International Energy Agency Technology Collaboration Program for Ocean Energy Systems. Initial results for point absorbers were presented in previous work, and here we present results for a breakwater-mounted Oscillating Water Column (OWC) device. The experimental model is at scale 1:4 relative to a full-scale installation in a water depth of 12.8 m. The power-extracting air turbine is modeled by an orifice plate of 1–2% of the internal chamber surface area. Measurements of chamber surface elevation, air flow through the orifice, and pressure difference across the orifice are compared with numerical calculations using both weakly-nonlinear potential flow theory and computational fluid dynamics. Both compressible- and incompressible-flow models are considered, and the effects of air compressibility are found to have a significant influence on the motion of the internal chamber surface. Recommendations are made for reducing uncertainties in future experimental campaigns, which are critical to enable firm conclusions to be drawn about the relative accuracy of the numerical models. It is well-known that boundary element method solutions of the linear potential flow problem (e.g., WAMIT) are singular at infinite frequency when panels are placed directly on the free surface. This is problematic for time-domain solutions where the value of the added mass matrix at infinite frequency is critical, especially for OWC chambers, which are modeled by zero-mass elements on the free surface. A straightforward rational procedure is described to replace ad-hoc solutions to this problem that have been proposed in the literature. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wave Energy System Hydrodynamics Modeling and Application of High-Performance Computing)

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20 pages, 8216 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Modelling a Heaving Point-Absorber with a Closed-Loop Control System Using the DualSPHysics Code

by Pablo Ropero-Giralda, Alejandro J. C. Crespo, Ryan G. Coe, Bonaventura Tagliafierro, José M. Domínguez, Giorgio Bacelli and Moncho Gómez-Gesteira

Energies 2021, 14(3), 760; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14030760 - 1 Feb 2021

Cited by 26 | Viewed by 4124

Abstract

The present work addresses the need for an efficient, versatile, accurate and open-source numerical tool to be used during the design stage of wave energy converters (WECs). The device considered here is the heaving point-absorber developed and tested by Sandia National Laboratories. The smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method, as implemented in DualSPHysics, is proposed since its meshless approach presents some important advantages when simulating floating devices. The dynamics of the power take-off system are also modelled by coupling DualSPHysics with the multi-physics library Project Chrono. A satisfactory matching between experimental and numerical results is obtained for: (i) the heave response of the device when forced via its actuator; (ii) the vertical forces acting on the fixed device under regular waves and; (iii) the heave response of the WEC under the action of both regular waves and the actuator force. This proves the ability of the numerical approach proposed to simulate accurately the fluid–structure interaction along with the WEC’s closed-loop control system. In addition, radiation models built from the experimental and WAMIT results are compared with DualSPHysics by plotting the intrinsic impedance in the frequency domain, showing that the SPH method can be also employed for system identification. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wave Energy System Hydrodynamics Modeling and Application of High-Performance Computing)

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36 pages, 31714 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Highly Accurate Experimental Heave Decay Tests with a Floating Sphere: A Public Benchmark Dataset for Model Validation of Fluid–Structure Interaction

by Morten Bech Kramer, Jacob Andersen, Sarah Thomas, Flemming Buus Bendixen, Harry Bingham, Robert Read, Nikolaj Holk, Edward Ransley, Scott Brown, Yi-Hsiang Yu, Thanh Toan Tran, Josh Davidson, Csaba Horvath, Carl-Erik Janson, Kim Nielsen and Claes Eskilsson

Energies 2021, 14(2), 269; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14020269 - 6 Jan 2021

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 4593

Abstract

Highly accurate and precise heave decay tests on a sphere with a diameter of 300 mm were completed in a meticulously designed test setup in the wave basin in the Ocean and Coastal Engineering Laboratory at Aalborg University, Denmark. The tests were dedicated to providing a rigorous benchmark dataset for numerical model validation. The sphere was ballasted to half submergence, thereby floating with the waterline at the equator when at rest in calm water. Heave decay tests were conducted, wherein the sphere was held stationary and dropped from three drop heights: a small drop height, which can be considered a linear case, a moderately nonlinear case, and a highly nonlinear case with a drop height from a position where the whole sphere was initially above the water. The precision of the heave decay time series was calculated from random and systematic standard uncertainties. At a 95% confidence level, uncertainties were found to be very low—on average only about 0.3% of the respective drop heights. Physical parameters of the test setup and associated uncertainties were quantified. A test case was formulated that closely represents the physical tests, enabling the reader to do his/her own numerical tests. The paper includes a comparison of the physical test results to the results from several independent numerical models based on linear potential flow, fully nonlinear potential flow, and the Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations. A high correlation between physical and numerical test results is shown. The physical test results are very suitable for numerical model validation and are public as a benchmark dataset. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wave Energy System Hydrodynamics Modeling and Application of High-Performance Computing)

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18 pages, 2187 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperCommunication

Investigation of Turbulence Modeling for Point-Absorber-Type Wave Energy Converters

by Christian Windt, Josh Davidson and John V. Ringwood

Energies 2021, 14(1), 26; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14010026 - 23 Dec 2020

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2354

Abstract

Reviewing the literature of CFD-based numerical wave tanks for wave energy applications, it can be observed that different flow conditions and different turbulence models are applied during numerical wave energy converter (WEC) experiments. No single turbulence model can be identified as an `industry standard’ for WEC modeling. The complexity of the flow field around a WEC, together with the strong dependency of turbulence effects on the shape, operational conditions, and external forces, hampers the formulation of such an `industry standard’. Furthermore, the conceptually different flow characteristics (i.e., oscillating, free surface flows), compared to the design cases of most turbulence models (i.e., continuous single-phase flow), can be identified as a source for the potential lack of accuracy of turbulence models for WEC applications. This communication performs a first step towards analyzing the accuracy and necessity of modeling turbulence effects, by means of turbulence models, within CFD-based NWTs for WEC applications. To that end, the influence of turbulence models and, in addition, the influence of the initial turbulence intensity is investigated based on different wave–structure interaction cases considering two separately validated WEC models. The results highlight the complexity of such a `turbulence analysis’ and the study suggests specific future work to get a better understanding of the model requirements for the flow field around WECs. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wave Energy System Hydrodynamics Modeling and Application of High-Performance Computing)

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21 pages, 3170 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Hydrodynamic Performance of a Hybrid System Combining a Fixed Breakwater and a Wave Energy Converter: An Experimental Study

by Wei Peng, Yingnan Zhang, Xueer Yang, Jisheng Zhang, Rui He, Yanjun Liu and Renwen Chen

Energies 2020, 13(21), 5740; https://doi.org/10.3390/en13215740 - 2 Nov 2020

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2035

Abstract

In this paper, a hybrid system integrating a fixed breakwater and an oscillating buoy type wave energy converter (WEC) is introduced. The energy converter is designed to extract the wave power by making use of the wave-induced heave motions of the three floating pontoons in front of the fixed breakwater. A preliminary experimental study is carried out to discuss the hydrodynamic performance of the hybrid system under the action of regular waves. A scale model was built in the laboratory at Hohai University, and the dissipative force from racks and gearboxes and the Ampere force from dynamos were employed as the power take-off (PTO) damping source. During the experiments, variations in numbers of key parameters, including the wave elevation, free response or damped motion of the floating pontoons, and the voltage output of the dynamos were simultaneously measured. Results indicate that the wave overtopping and breaking occurring on the upper surfaces of floating pontoons have a significant influence on the hydrodynamic performance of the system. For moderate and longer waves, the developed system proves to be effective in attenuating the incident energy, with less than 30% of the energy reflected back to the paddle. More importantly, the hydrodynamic efficiency of energy conversion for the present device can achieve approximately 19.6% at the lowest wave steepness in the model tests, implying that although the WEC model harnesses more energy in more energetic seas, the device may be more efficient for wave power extraction in a less energetic sea-state. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wave Energy System Hydrodynamics Modeling and Application of High-Performance Computing)

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