• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.33 no.7
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• pp.1012-1016
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• 2009

This paper describes the control and monitoring system for OWEC (Overtopping Wave Energy Converter) which shows the characteristic of power stabilization in overtopping wave energy converter system. Overtopping waves generates different water pressure and the turbine is rotated by this pressure. As a result, overtopping wave energy converter is able to convert wave energy into electricity. Small size of overtopping wave energy converter is developed to simulate the control monitoring system which is able to control power generation and also monitor the system condition. The result shows the reduction of fluctuation from the overtopping wave energy system by the developed control monitoring system. In addition, the DB(Data Base) of test results are contributed to the research and development for OWEC.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.1-6
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• 2009

An Overtopping Wave Energy Convertor (OWEC) is an offshore wave energy convertor used for collecting overtopping waves and converting the water pressure head into electric power through hydro turbines installed in a vertical duct affixed to the sea bed. A numerical wave tank based on the commercial computational fluid dynamics code Fluent is established for the corresponding analysis. The Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes equation and two-phase VOF model are utilized to generate the 2D numerical linear propagating waves, which are validated by the overtopping experiment results. Calculations are made for several incident wave conditions and shape parameters for the overtopping device. Both the incident wave periods and heights have evident effects on the overtopping performance of the OWEC device. The computational analysis demonstrates that the present overtopping device is more compatible with longer incident wave periods.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.19 no.6 s.67
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• pp.8-15
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• 2005

Wave energy has been considered to be one of the most promising energy resources for the future, as it is pollution-free and an abundant natural resource. However, since it has drawbacks of non-stationary energy density, it is necessary to change the wave energy into a simple concentrated energy. Progressive waves in a coastal area can be amplified, swashed, and overtopped by a wave overtopping control structure. By conserving the quantity of overflow in a reservoir, the kinetic energy of the waves can be converted to the potential energy with a hydraulic head above the mean sea level. The potential energy in the form of a hydraulic head can be utilized to produce electric power, similar to hydro-electric power generation. This study aims to find the most optimal shape of wave overtopping structure for maximum overtopping volume of sea water; for this purpose, we carried out the wave overtopping experiment in a wave tank, under both regular and irregular wave conditions.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.273-278
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• 2009

Overtopping Wave Energy Convertor (OWEC) is an offshore wave energy convertor for collecting the overtopping waves and converting the water pressure head into electric power through the hydro turbines installed in the vertical duct which is fixed in the sea bed. The numerical wave tank based on the commercial computational fluid dynamics code Fluent is established for the corresponding analysis. Several incident wave conditions and shape parameters of the overtopping device are calculated. The straight line type and parabolic type of the sloping arm are compared in the optimal designing investigation of the overtopping characteristics and discharge for OWEC device. The numerical results demonstrate that the parabolic sloping arm is available for wave running up and the overtopping discharge increasing.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.35-41
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• 2008

Overtopping wave energy convertor is an offshore wave energy convertor for collecting the overtopping waves converting the water pressure head into electric power through the hydro turbines. This paper presents a numerical wave tank based on the commercial CFD code Fluent. The Reynolds Averaged Naiver-Stokes and VOF model is utilized to generate the 2D numerical linear propagating waves, which has been validated by the analytical solutions. Several incident wave conditions and shape parameters are calculated in the optimal designing investigation of the overtopping characteristics and discharge for the overtopping wave energy convertor.

• Journal of Fisheries and Marine Sciences Education
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.1303-1309
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• 2015

The behavior and flow characteristics of the floating wave energy converter were analyzed by using CFD in this study. The average significant wave height was confirmed as 0.5~2.0m from the Korean coastal sea area. This study was carried out by selecting a range of 1.0~1.6m in the wave height to simulate the operations of realistic wave energy converter system. The principle of a piston wave maker was applied in order to produce periodic wave. The behavior of the wave energy converter and the state of the wave overtopping according to the generated periodic wave were confirmed through the unsteady three-dimensional flow analysis. It was found that the wave overtopping rate according to the generated periodic wave was in range of the 11.6~30.0 kg/s.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.30 no.8 s.114
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• pp.649-655
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• 2006

Waves progressing into the coastal area can be amplified, swashed and overtopped by a wave overtopping control structure, and it converts the kinetic energy of the waves to the potential energy with a hydraulic head above the mean sea level by conserving the overflow in a reservoir. Then the potential energy in the form of hydraulic head can be converted to electric power utilizing extremely low-head hydraulic turbine. This study aims to find the most optimal shape of wave overtopping structure which maximizes overtopping volume rate of sea water. Laboratory experiments for the performance evaluation of wave overtopping control structures were carried out in three dimensional wave tank, and the three dimensional structure models with planar wave concentration shapes(B/b) were manufactured into five classes, which were optimized by cross sectional parameters of the structure, ie, length of ramp(l), gradient of inclined ramp($cot{\phi}$) and freeboard height of the wave overtopping structure($h_e$) proposed by Shin and Hong(2005). The wave overtopping discharges were investigated with 20 incident wave conditions and wave directions of $0^{\circ},\;15^{\circ},\;30^{\circ}$.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.651-659
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• 2018

A multi-level overtopping wave energy converter was designed according to the large tidal range and small wave heights in China. It consists of two reservoirs with sloping walls at different levels. The reservoirs share a common outflow duct and a low-head axial turbine. The experimental study was carried out in a laboratory wave-flume to investigate the overtopping performance of the device. The depth-gauges were used to measure the variation of the water level in the reservoirs. The data was processed to derive the time-averaged overtopping discharges. It was found that the lower reservoir can store wave waters at the low water level and break the waves which try to climb up to the upper reservoir. The upper sloping angle and the opening width of the lower reservoir both have significant effects on the overtopping discharges, which can provide more information to the design and optimization of this type of device.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.97-103
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• 2012

Overtopping Wave Energy Convertor (OWEC) is an offshore wave energy convertor, which comprises the circular ramp and reservoir. It collects the overtopped waves and converting water pressure head into electric power through the hydro-turbines installed in the vertical duct, which is fixed in the sea bed. The performance of OWEC can be represented by the operating water heads of the device, which depends on the amount of the wave water overtopping into the reservoir. In the present paper, the reservoir with the duct connecting to the sea water are studied in the 3D numerical wave tank, which has been developed based on the computational fluid dynamics software Fluent 6.3. Both the overtopping motion and the discharges of the reservoir are investigated together, and several shape parameters and incident wave conditions are varied to demonstrate their effects on the performance of OWEC.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.668-676
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• 2017

A two-dimensional numerical investigation is performed to study the influence of slot width of multi-stage stationary floating overtopping wave energy devices on overtopping flow rate and performance. The hydraulic efficiency based on captured crest energy of different device layouts is compared with that of single-stage device to determine the effect of the geometrical design. The results show optimal trends giving a huge increase in overtopping energy. Plots of efficiency versus the relative slot width show that, for multi-stage devices, the greatest hydraulic efficiency is achieved at an intermediate value of the variable within the parametric range considered, relative slot width of 0.15 and 0.2 depending on design layouts. Moreover, an application of adaptive slot width of multi-stage device is investigated. The numerical results show that the overall hydraulic efficiency of non-adaptive and adaptive slot devices are approximately on par. The effect of adaptive slot width on performance can be negligible.