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Investigation of Turbulence Modeling for Point-Absorber-Type Wave Energy Converters

Author

Listed:
  • Christian Windt

    (Centre for Ocean Energy Research, Maynooth University, Kildare W23 F2K8, Ireland
    Leichtweiß—Institute for Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources, Technische Universität Braunschweig, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany)

  • Josh Davidson

    (Department of Fluid Mechanics, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, 1111 Budapest, Hungary)

  • John V. Ringwood

    (Centre for Ocean Energy Research, Maynooth University, Kildare W23 F2K8, Ireland)

Abstract

Reviewing the literature of CFD-based numerical wave tanks for wave energy applications, it can be observed that different flow conditions and different turbulence models are applied during numerical wave energy converter (WEC) experiments. No single turbulence model can be identified as an `industry standard’ for WEC modeling. The complexity of the flow field around a WEC, together with the strong dependency of turbulence effects on the shape, operational conditions, and external forces, hampers the formulation of such an `industry standard’. Furthermore, the conceptually different flow characteristics (i.e., oscillating, free surface flows), compared to the design cases of most turbulence models (i.e., continuous single-phase flow), can be identified as a source for the potential lack of accuracy of turbulence models for WEC applications. This communication performs a first step towards analyzing the accuracy and necessity of modeling turbulence effects, by means of turbulence models, within CFD-based NWTs for WEC applications. To that end, the influence of turbulence models and, in addition, the influence of the initial turbulence intensity is investigated based on different wave–structure interaction cases considering two separately validated WEC models. The results highlight the complexity of such a `turbulence analysis’ and the study suggests specific future work to get a better understanding of the model requirements for the flow field around WECs.

Suggested Citation

  • Christian Windt & Josh Davidson & John V. Ringwood, 2020. "Investigation of Turbulence Modeling for Point-Absorber-Type Wave Energy Converters," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-18, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2020:i:1:p:26-:d:466877
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Vyzikas, Thomas & Deshoulières, Samy & Giroux, Olivier & Barton, Matthew & Greaves, Deborah, 2017. "Numerical study of fixed Oscillating Water Column with RANS-type two-phase CFD model," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 102(PB), pages 294-305.
    2. Brecht Devolder & Vasiliki Stratigaki & Peter Troch & Pieter Rauwoens, 2018. "CFD Simulations of Floating Point Absorber Wave Energy Converter Arrays Subjected to Regular Waves," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-23, March.
    3. Windt, Christian & Davidson, Josh & Ringwood, John V., 2018. "High-fidelity numerical modelling of ocean wave energy systems: A review of computational fluid dynamics-based numerical wave tanks," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 610-630.
    4. Elhanafi, Ahmed & Fleming, Alan & Macfarlane, Gregor & Leong, Zhi, 2016. "Numerical energy balance analysis for an onshore oscillating water column–wave energy converter," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 116(P1), pages 539-557.
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    Cited by:

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