As worldwide energy consumption continues to increase, so does the demand for renewable energy sources. The total available wave energy resource for the United States alone is 2,640 TWh/yr; nearly two thirds of the 4,000 TWh of electricity used in the United States each year. It is estimated that nearly half of that available energy is recoverable through wave energy conversion techniques. In this thesis, a two-body 'point absorber' type wave energy converter with a mechanical power-takeoff is investigated. The two-body wave energy converter extracts energy through the relative motion of a floating buoy and a neutrally buoyant submerged body. Using a linear frequency-domain model, analytical solutions of the optimal power and the corresponding power-takeoff components are derived for the two-body wave energy converter. Using these solutions, a case study is conducted to investigate the influence of the submerged body size on the absorbed power of the device in regular and irregular waves. Here it is found that an optimal mass ratio between the submerged body and floating buoy exists where the device will achieve resonance. Furthermore, a case study to investigate the influence of the submerged body shape on the absorbed power is conducted using a time-domain numerical model. Here it is found that the submerged body should be designed to reduce the effects of drag, but to maintain relatively large hydrodynamic added mass and excitation force. To validate the analytical and numerical models, a 1/30th scale model of a two-body wave energy converter is tested in a wave tank. The results of the wave tank tests show that the two-body wave energy converter can absorb nearly twice the energy of a single-body 'point absorber' type wave energy converter. / Master of Science / As worldwide energy consumption continues to increase, so does the demand for renewable energy sources. The total available wave energy resource for the United States alone is 2,640 TWh/yr; nearly two thirds of the 4,000 TWh of electricity used in the United States each year. It is estimated that nearly half of that available energy is recoverable through wave energy conversion techniques. By absorbing the motion of a wave, wave energy converters can turn that energy into useful electricity. A single-body ‘point absorber’ type wave energy converter consists of a floating buoy connected to the seabed by a mechanism called the power-takeoff. The power-takeoff converts the up and down motion of the floating buoy into rotation. A generator is connected to the power-takeoff, which produces useful electricity from the rotation. Issues with the size of the floating buoy, as well as connecting the floating buoy to the seabed, make this design economically impractical. Instead of connecting the floating buoy to the seabed, the floating buoy can be connected to an additional submerged body. In this thesis, optimization strategies were employed on the size and shape of the submerged body to determine theoretical power limits. Here it is found that an optimal mass ratio between the submerged body and floating buoy exists for a given wave profile. It is also found that the optimal shape of the submerged body is long cylindrical body, having a small surface area normal to the motion. A scale model experiment of a two-body wave energy converter was conducted to validate our theoretical models. The results of this experiment are in good agreement with the models, showing that an optimal mass ratio exists for a given wave profile, and that the two-body wave energy converter can absorb nearly twice the energy of a single-body ‘point absorber’ type wave energy converter.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/80298 |
| Date | 09 November 2017 |
| Creators | Martin, Dillon Minkoff |
| Contributors | Mechanical Engineering, Zuo, Lei, Parker, Robert G., Tafti, Danesh K. |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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