• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.66-76
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• 2020

A light buoy is equipped with lighting functions and navigation signs. Its shape and colors indicate the route to vessels sailing nearby in the daytime, with its lights providing this information at night. It also plays a role in notifying the presence of obstacles such as reefs and shallows. When a light buoy operates in the ocean, the visibility and angle of light from the lantern installed on the buoy changes, which may cause them to function improperly. Therefore, it is necessary for the buoy to have stable and minimal motions under given environmental conditions, mainly waves. In this study, motion analyses for a newly developed lightweight light-buoy in waves were performed to predict the motion performance and determine the effect of the developed appendages for improving the motion performance. First, free decay tests, including benchmark cases, were performed using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to estimate the viscous damping coefficients, which could not be obtained using potential-based simulations. A comparison was made of the results from potential-based simulations with and without considering viscous damping coefficients, which were estimated using CFD. It was confirmed that the pitch and heave motions of the buoy became smaller when the developed appendages were adopted.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.1-14
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• 2017

A series of coupled time domain simulations considering stochastic waves and wind based on five 1-h time-domain analyses are performed in normal operating conditions. Power performance and tower base Fore-Aft bending moment and pitching motion response of the floating spar-buoy wind turbine with 2 MW direct-drive PMSG have been analyzed by using HAWC2 that account for aero-hydro-servo-elastic time domain simulations. When the floating spar-buoy wind turbine is tilted in the wind direction, maximum of platform pitching motion is close to $4^{\circ}$. Statistical characteristics of tower base Fore-Aft bending moment of floating spar-buoy wind turbine are compared to that of land-based wind turbine. Maximum of tower base Fore-Aft bending moment of floating spar-buoy wind turbine and land-based wind is 94,448 kNm, 40,560 kNm respectively. This results is due to changes in blade pitch angle resulting from relative motion between wave and movement of the floating spar-buoy wind turbine.

• Journal of Drive and Control
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.25-35
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• 2015

The hydraulic power-take-off mechanism (HPTO) is one of the most popular methods in wave energy converters (WECs). However, the conventional HPTO with only one direction motion has a number of drawbacks that limit its power capture capability. This paper proposes an adjustable moving angle wave energy converter (AMAWEC) and investigates the effect of the moving angle on the performance of the wave energy converter to find the optimal moving angle in order to increase the power capture capability as well as energy efficiency. A mathematical model of components from a floating buoy to a hydraulic motor was modeled. A small scale WEC test rig was fabricated to verify the power capture capability and efficiency of the proposed system through experiments.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.427-436
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• 2018

In this study, experimental and numerical analysis were performed on the survivability of a long pipe-type buoy structure in waves. The buoy structure is an articulated tower consisting of an upper structure, buoyancy module, and gravity anchor with long pipes forming the base frame. A series of experiment were performed in the ocean engineering basin of KRISO with the scaled model of 1/ 22 to evaluate the survivability of the buoy structure at West Sea in South Korea. Survival condition was considered as the wave of 50 year return period. Additional experiments were performed to investigate the effects of current and wave period. The factors considered for the evaluation of the buoy's survival were the pitch angle of the structure, anchor reaction force, and the number of submergence of the upper structure. Numerical simulations were carried out with the OrcaFlex, the commercial program for the mooring analysis, with the aim of performing mutual validation with the experimental results. Based on the evaluation, the behavior characteristics of the buoy structure were first examined according to the tidal conditions. The changes were investigated for the pitch angle and anchor reaction force at HAT and LAT conditions, and the results directly compared with those obtained from numerical simulation. Secondly, the response characteristics of the buoy structure were studied depending on the wave period and the presence of current velocity. Third, the number of submergence through video analysis was compared with the simulation results in relation to the submergence of the upper structure. Finally, the simulation results for structural responses which were not directly measured in the experiment were presented, and the structural safety discussed in the survival waves. Through a series of survivability evaluation studies, the behavior characteristics of the buoy structure were examined in survival waves. The vulnerability and utility of the buoy structure were investigated through the sensitivity studies of waves, current, and tides.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Navigation and Port Research Conference
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• 2022.06a
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• pp.77-78
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• 2022

Currently, communication at sea is more difficult than communication at inland due to the movement of route signs by waves. This paper conducts research on relay transmission and reception techniques to extend coverage in uplink situations. The uplink maritime communication environment between inland base stations and buoys located a certain distance inland was viewed as two hops, and a beam generated according to the number of antennas was selected and a performance analysis was conducted considering the movement of buoys measured by sensors.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.53-58
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• 2012

An experimental study on the hydrodynamic performance of a backward bent duct buoy (BBDB) was performed in a 2D wave tank. The BBDB is one of the promising oscillating water column (OWC) types of floating wave energy converters. Two different corner-shaped BBDBs (sharp-corner and round-corner) were used to measure the maximum chamber surface elevations and body motions for various incident wave conditions, and their hydrodynamic characteristics were compared. In order to investigate the effect of the pneumatic pressure inside the chamber, the heave and pitch angle interacted with elevations were compared for both open chamber and partially open chamber BBDBs. From the comparison study, the deviation in the chamber surface elevations between the two shapes of BBDBs was found to be significant near the resonance period, which may be explained by viscous energy loss. It was also found that the pneumatic pressure noticeably affected the chamber surface elevation and body motions.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.628-636
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• 2018

Because large buoys are mainly made of steel, they are heavy and vulnerable to corrosion by sea water. This makes buoy installation and maintenance difficult. Moreover, vessel collision accidents with buoys and damage to vessels due to the material of buoys (e.g., steel) are reported every year. Recently, light buoys adopting eco-friendly and lightweight materials have come into the spotlight in order to solve the previously-mentioned problems. In Korea, a new lightweight buoy with a 7-Nautical Mile lantern adopting expanded polypropylene (EPP) and aluminum to create a buoyant body and tower structure, respectively, was developed in 2017. When these light buoys are operated in the ocean, the visibility and angle of light from the lantern installed on the light buoys changes, which may cause them to function improperly. Therefore, research on the performance of light buoys is needed since the weight distribution and motion characteristics of these new buoys differ from conventional models. In this study, stability estimation and motion analyses for newly-developed buoys under various environmental conditions considering a mooring line were carried out using ANSYS AQWA. Numerical simulations for the estimation of wind and current loads were performed using commercial CFD software, Siemens STAR-CCM+, to increase the accuracy of motion analysis. By comparing the estimated maximum significant motions of the light buoys, it was found that waves and currents were more influential in the motion of the buoys. And, the estimated motions of the buoys became larger as the sea state became worser, which might be the reason that the peak frequencies of the wave spectra got closer to those of the buoys.