Analisis Pengaruh Aliran Hidrodinamis Pada Oscillating Water Column Wave Energy Converter

Abstract

Ocean wave energy is a marine renewable energy that has potential for áreas with long shorelines and wide coasts. Oscillating Water Column (OWC) is a device that captures and converts wave energy into electrical energy. This study aims to investigate the influence of hydrodynamic flows on the response of wáter columns within a bottom-standing OWC that has an L-shaped área. The flows may be influenced by the mouth shape of the OWC and the wáter viscosity that may increase friction and damping on the flows. Through the numerical models of the interactions between the waves at various periods and the OWC with different mouth shapes, the wáter elevations that arise within and outside the OWC, flow velocity and vortex generation were analysed. The present findings show that the OWC with a bell mouth generates minimal vórtices and hence larger amplitude of response. In contrast, the viscosity has little significance on the response. In addition to the damping mechanisms, this study analyses the influence of wáter depth on determining the natural periode of the wáter column. This is important in achieving maximal performance of the OWC by tuning a resonant condition on the wáter column.