• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.20 no.4 s.71
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• pp.64-69
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• 2006

A numerical analysis is made to investigate the wave absorption efficiency of a OWC-type wave power generator. Energy absorption by an OWC(Oscillating Water Column) air-chamber is computed in regular waves, taking account of the oscillating surface-pressure, due to pressure drop, across the duct of the air chamber. The problem is formulated in the scope of potential theory and solved by the Localized Finite Element Method(LFEM), based on the classical variational principle. The efficiency of energy absorption is investigated by. changing wave conditions, sea-bottom slope and pressure drop coefficient.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.317-321
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• 2015

Many kinds of generation systems have been developed to use ocean energy. Among these, with the use of an oscillating water column (OWC) for power generation is attracting attention. The OWC-type wave power generation system converts wave energy into electricity by operating a generator turbine with the oscillating water level in a column of water. There are two ways to convert wave power into electricity using an OWC. One uses a cross-flow turbine using the water level inside the OWC. The other method uses the flow of air in a Wells turbine, which depends on the water level. An experiment was carried out using a 2-D wave tank in order to minimize the number of empirical tests. The design factors were taken from Koo et al. (2012) and the experimental environment assumed by free surface motion. This paper deals with characteristics of two types of wave energy conversion systems combine with a breakwater. One model uses an air-driven Wells turbine and a cross-flow water turbine. The other type uses a cross-flow water turbine. Wave energy converters with OWCs have mostly been studied using air-driven Wells turbines. The efficiency of the cross-flow turbine was about 15% higher than that of the other model, and the water level of the OWC internal chamber for the cross-flow water turbine and air-driven Wells turbine was less than about 40% lower than the one using only the cross-flow water turbine.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.43-51
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• 1992

The hydrodynamic performance of a floating-type OWC (Oscillating Water Column) chamber is studied numerically and experimentally in this study. The numerical approach based on two-dimensional linear theory of floating wave absorber was attempted to design an efficient wave energy absorber, while model test was performed in a wave basin to test a performance of designed model and validate the reliability of developed numerical code. The focus of study is placed mainly on the experimental study to evaluate the principal characteristics of the designed OWC chamber in regular waves. The effects of the variation of wave height on OWC device and of air pressure inside chamber are also presented. Finally, the measured results were compared with computed ones, and it was shown that the designed chamber works with high efficiency $(\eta_H>1$ over most of wave lengths covered by present study. It is therefore concluded that the developed code is capable of being successfully employed to design OWC chambers at various ocean environments, even though there exist some minor discrepancies between measured and computed results.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.77-99
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• 2017

Offshore oscillating water columns (OWC) represent one of the most promising forms of wave energy converters. The hydrodynamic performance of such converters heavily depends on their interactions with ocean waves; therefore, understanding these interactions is essential. In this paper, a fully nonlinear 2D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model based on RANS equations and VOF surface capturing scheme is implemented to carry out wave energy balance analyses for an offshore OWC. The numerical model is well validated against published physical measurements including; chamber differential air pressure, chamber water level oscillation and vertical velocity, overall wave energy extraction efficiency, reflected and transmitted waves, velocity and vorticity fields (PIV measurements). Following the successful validation work, an extensive campaign of numerical tests is performed to quantify the relevance of three design parameters, namely incoming wavelength, wave height and turbine damping to the device hydrodynamic performance and wave energy conversion process. All of the three investigated parameters show important effects on the wave-pneumatic energy conversion chain. In addition, the flow field around the chamber's front wall indicates areas of energy losses by stronger vortices generation than the rear wall.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.19-27
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• 2002

The motion of a floating OWC chamber in waves is studied taking account of fluctuating air pressure in the air chamber. An atmospheric pressure drop occurs across the upper opening of the chamber which causes not only hydrodynamic but also pneumatic added mass and damping forces to the floating chamber. A velocity potential in the water due to the free surface oscillating pressure patch is added to the conventional radiation-diffraction potential problem. the potential problem inside the chamber is formulated by making use of the Green integral equation associated with the Rankine Green function wile the outer problem with the Kelvin Green function. The two integral equations are solved simultaneously by making use of a matching boundary condition at the lower opening of the chamber to the outer water region. The chamber motion in the frequency domain is calculated for various values of parameters related to the atmospheric pressure drop. The present methods can also be sued for the analysis of air-cushion vehicle motion as well as for the design of a floating OWC wave energy absorber.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.12-17
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• 2010

Oscillating Water Column (OWC) device has been widely employed in the wave energy conversion. Wave Focusing Device (WFD) is proposed to be helpful for improving the operating performance of OWC chamber. In the present paper, a Numerical Wave Tank (NWT) using two-phase VOF model is utilized to simulate the generation and propagation of incident regular waves, water column oscillation inside the chamber. The NWT consists of the continuity equation, Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations and two-phase VOF functions. The standard k- turbulence model, the finite volume method, NITA-PISO algorithm and dynamic mesh technique are employed. Effects of WFD on the operating performance of OWC chamber are investigated numerically.

• Proceedings of the Korea Committee for Ocean Resources and Engineering Conference
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• 2002.05a
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• pp.191-197
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• 2002

The motion of a floating OWC chamber in waves is studied taking account of fluctuating.air pressure in the air chamber. An atmospheric pressure drop occurs across the upper opening of the chamber which causes not only hydrodynamic but also pneumatic added mass and damping forces to the floating chamber. A velocity potential in the water due to the free surface oscillating pressure patch is added to the conventional radiation-diffraction potential problem. The potential problem inside the chamber is formulated by making use of the Green integral equation associated with the Rankine Green function while the outer problem with the Kelvin Green function. The two integral equations are solved simultaneously by making use of a matching boundary condition at the lower opening of the chamber to the outer water region. The chamber motion in the frequency domain is calculated for various values of parameters related to the atmospheric pressure drop. The present methods can also be used for the analysis of air-cushion vehicle motion as well as for the design oj a floating owe wave energy absorber.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.237.2-237.2
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• 2010

Although oscillating water column type wave energy devices are nearing the stage of commercial exploitation, there is still much to be learnt about many facets of their hydrodynamic performance. The techniques of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) are applied to simulate a wave energy conversion device in free surface such as waves. This research uses the commercially available ANSYS CFX computational fluid dynamics flow solver to model a complete oscillating water column system with savonius turbine incorporated at the rear bottom of the OWC chamber in a three dimensional numerical wave tank. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the effect of an average wave condition on the performance and internal flow of a newly developed direct drive turbine (DDT) model for wave energy conversion numerically. The effects of blade angle and front lip shape on the hydrodynamic efficiency are investigated. The results indicated that the developed models are suitable to analyze the water flow characteristics both in the chamber and in the turbine. For the turbine, the numerical results of torque were compared for the all cases. The results of the testing have also illustrated that simple changes to the front wall aperture shape can provide marked improvements in the efficiency of energy capture for OWC type devices.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.401-409
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• 2023

Oscillating water column (OWC) type wave power generator system is a power generation system that uses wave energy, a sustainable and renewable energy source. Irregular cycles and wave heights act as factors that make it difficult to secure generation efficiency of the wave power generator system. Recently, research for improving power generation efficiency is being conducted by applying digital twin technology to OWC type wave energy converter system. However, digital twin using sensor data can predict erroneous performance due to uncertainty in the sensor data. Therefore, this study proposes an uncertainty analysis method for sensor data which is used in digital twin to secure the reliability of digital twin prediction results. Uncertainty quantification considering sensor data characteristics and future uncertainty information according to uncertainty propagation were derived mathematically, and confidence interval estimation was performed based on the proposed method.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Navigation and Port Research Conference
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• 2018.11a
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• pp.59-60
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• 2018

The oscillating-water-column wave energy converter represents the complex physical characteristics associated with the water column, turbines, generator, and power converter. This study focuses on the derivation of the physical relationship between the water column and turbine based on the 1/ 4 scale model test. The aerodynamic characteristics of the OWC ducted turbine were simulated using an orifice. The turbine effect, a key element in the OWC-chamber performance evaluation, can be represented by the flow rate and pressure drop through the orifice. The turbine effect of OWC-WEC was confirmed to have a non-linear relationship from the measured flow rate and pressure drop in the model test.