Numerical simulation of an owc devise

Abstract

Wave energy is a renewable and clean energy resource that, in a near future, may become an alternative to the more pollutant fuels. There are a number of wave energy converters prototypes and a few installed text facilities, however there is no device ready for commercial utilization. In this work an Oscillation Water Column Generator (OWC) is numerical simulated using the OpenFOAM software. The VOF (volume of fluid) method is used to solve the multiphase (air + water) fluid flow problem. Regular gravity waves, inside a rectangular (2D) tank, are imposed numerically by prescribing the inlet velocity at the left wall of the tank. The main goal of the work is to simulate the interaction between the generated waves and the OWC device and calculate the energy generated by the turbine (usually a Wells turbine). The air turbine, responsible for the electrical energy generation, is simulated by applying a source (force) term to the momentum equation at the OWC chimney section. Pressure drop at the turbine and air velocity at the chimney outlet section are evaluated as a function of time and used to compute the available energy to be converted into electrical energy. Results are presented and compared for two operating condition: with turbine and without turbine.