Abstract
Ocean wave energy is vastly untapped renewable source even-though it has the highest energy density. In this work, a full scale point absorber ocean wave energy converter model (WEC) with hydraulic power take-off (PTO) is developed. The hydrodynamic forces collected from the National Data Buoy Center near North Carolina shore is used to study the stresses endured by the WEC model. The stresses are evaluated using a commercial finite element method (FEM) software ABAQUS. A linear elastic model is implemented to account for the material behavior in addition to the Hilbert-HughesTaylor-α HHT-α) method to understand the dynamic response of the WEC. The displacement along with the effect of PTO damping are validated by other numerical as well as experimental results. The stresses and deformation on the WEC are also studied. Furthermore, a study involving PTO damping and angle of WEC arm and their effect on the fatigue life is also carried out. The results indicated that WEC arm has maximum deformation whereas bracket has the least. However, the stress on WEC parts is dependent on the PTO damping as well as the arm angle. The fatigue life of the PTO system can be significantly increased by increasing the PTO damping. Moreover, fatigue life can also be increased by increasing the arm angle. These analyses are not only cost effective but also provide intuitive understanding to optimize the design process of WECs.