Numerical study on the effect of submerged depth on the horizontal plate wave energy converter

Abstract

The growing search for clean and renewable energy sources has given rise to the studies of exploring sea wave energy. This paper is concerned with the numerical evaluation of the main operational principle of a submerged plate employed for the conversion of wave energy into electrical one. The numerical model used to solve the conservation equations of mass, momentum and transport of volume fraction is based on the finite volume method (FVM). In order to tackle with the flow of mixture of air-water and its interaction with the device, the multiphase model volume of fluid (VOF) is employed. The purpose of this study is the evaluation of a numerical model for improvement of the knowledge about the submerged plate wave energy converter, as well as the investigation of the effect of the distance from the plate to the bottom of the sea (H P) on the performance of the converter. The simulations for several distances of the plate from the seabed show that the optimal efficiency is 64%, which is obtained for H P=0.53 m (88% of the depth). This efficiency is 17% larger than that found in the worst case (H P=0.46 m, 77% of the depth).