Floating structure and wave energy converter

• Main Author: Misra, Rajiv.
• Other Authors: Huang Zhenhua
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Civil engineering::Water resources
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/15788
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Presently, energy production is the one of the many causes of environmental problems. In view of this fact, energy from clean and renewable sources is the solution to the many environmental problems of the world and the ever-increasing demand for electricity. One such clean energy is wave energy. The Oscillating Water Column (OWC) designed for this project is able to tap on this form of energy. Preceding this Final Year Project (FYP), a FYP was carried out where the OWC was placed at the bottom of the wave tank and tested. Based on those results, a floating OWC was designed. The main purpose of making the OWC model float is the larger amount of wave energy available at the water surface. This would mean a larger amount of energy converted by the OWC. This FYP has been broken up into four phases. The first phase was to design an OWC that can float. The second phase involved the construction of a model. Due to the intricate detail of the floating OWC model, this construction phase was the longest. Experimentation on the OWC model in a wave tank was carried out in the third phase. For the experimentation phase, the water depth and wave height were kept constant but the period of the incoming waves were varied. There were 2 sets of data that were collected for the FYP. The first set of data was collected with the OWC doors closed. The second set of data was collected with the OWC doors open. The last portion of the experimentation phase was to collect readings recorded by an Infra-red camera when the OWC doors were opened and closed. This portion of the experimentation was done only for one period. Within the final phase, analysis of the results was carried out using Fast Fourier Transform. The results were then converted into actual values such as Millimeters and Pascal. With the measured actual values, graphs were plotted out and the functionality of the floating OWC model was determined. In conclusion, the floating OWC model behaved like an OWC. With this information, future FYPs can utilize the model for further experimentation.