TY - JOUR
TI - Numerical study of the air-flow in an oscillating water column wave energy converter
AU - Paixao Conde, J
AU - Gato, L
T2 - Renewable Energy
AB - The paper presents a numerical study of the air-flow in a typical pneumatic chamber geometry of an oscillating water column (OWC)-type wave energy converter (WEC), equipped with two vertical-axis air turbines, asymmetrically placed on the top of the chamber. Outwards and inwards, steady and periodic, air-flow calculations were performed to investigate the flow distribution at the turbines’ inlet sections, as well as the properties of the air-jet impinging on the water free-surface. The original design of the OWC chamber is likely to be harmful for the operation of the turbines due to the possible air-jet-produced water-spray at the water free-surface subsequently ingested by the turbine. A geometry modification of the air chamber, using a horizontal baffle-plate to deflect the air from the turbines, is proposed and proved to be very effective in reducing the risk of water-spray production from the inwards flow. The flow distribution at the turbines’ inlet sections for the outwards flow was found to be fairly uniform for the geometries considered, providing good inlet flow conditions for the turbines. Steady flow was found to be an acceptable model to study the air-flow inside the pneumatic chamber of an OWC-WEC.
DA - 2008/12//
PY - 2008
PB - Elsevier Ltd.
VL - 33
IS - 12
SP - 2637
EP - 2644
UR - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096014810800075X
DO - 10.1016/j.renene.2008.02.028
LA - English
KW - Wave
KW - Oscillating Water Column
KW - Modeling
KW - Hydrodynamics
KW - Structural
ER -