10.1007/s40095-014-0091-7

Design and analysis of buoy geometries for a wave energy converter

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  • Pedro Jorge Borges Fontes Negrão Beirão*1,
  • Cândida Maria dos Santos Pereira Malça2,
  1. Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra, ISEC, DEM, Rua Pedro Nunes, Coimbra, 3030-199, PT LAETA, IDMEC, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade Técnica de Lisboa, Lisboa, PT
  2. Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra, ISEC, DEM, Rua Pedro Nunes, Coimbra, 3030-199, PT
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Published in Issue 2014-05-01

How to Cite

Beirão, P. J. B. F. N., & dos Santos Pereira Malça, C. M. (2014). Design and analysis of buoy geometries for a wave energy converter. International Journal of Energy and Environmental Engineering, 5(2-3 (July 2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40095-014-0091-7
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Abstract

Abstract This paper describes the design and analysis of several buoy geometries that may be applied to a near-shore floating point-absorber wave energy converter. After the characterisation of the device, a numerical model and a simulator in the time domain were developed and the structural performance of the wave energy converter evaluated for three different buoy geometries. The influence of the buoy dimensions, different submerged conditions and position of hydraulic cylinder piston rod, on the structural performance of the wave energy converter is also analysed. The numerical study was conducted using a commercial finite element code. This software needs, among other parameters, the magnitude of the forces acting upon each buoy. A dynamic model was, therefore, developed assuming that the buoy heave motion is excited by the sea waves. The finite element analysis revealed that a load with a higher magnitude than those computed from the simulator was required. It was shown that, even considering the partially submerged condition, the spherical buoy geometry leads to best structural behaviour.

Keywords

  • Wave energy converter,
  • Buoy geometries,
  • WEC dynamic model,
  • WEC finite element model
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