Design Considerations of the Resonant Chamber of an Oscillating Water

Abstract

One of the most promising devices for harnessing the energy of the waves is the oscillating water column (OWC). Since its creation, it has been evidenced that this device has been a subject of multiple investigations focused on improving its hydrodynamic efficiency. Several geometric factors influence the efficiency of the water resonant chamber. Among these parameters, the internal length or width, the inclination angle of the front wall, and the depth of the immersion stand out, as well as the air outlet diameter. In this regard, it is crucial to understand the importance of these factors and their interactions in the process of capturing the energy contained in a wave front for the subsequent design optimization of this type of structure. For this purpose, the response surface methodology or the surrogate models are regarded as a good option to study the sensitivity of these factors on their effect on the efficiency of the resonant chamber. In this work, the research of the main considerations for the design of an OWC resonance chamber under a wide variety of wave conditions are described.

Keywords

• ANSYS
• design
• numerical simulation
• renewable energy
• wave energy