Abstract
The present study investigates the application of a novel nonlinear bistable mechanism to the oscillating-body wave energy converter (WEC) under irregular wave conditions. The numerical simulations of the linear and nonlinear WEC devices are performed with the hydrodynamic analysis software AQWA and coding program MATLAB. Firstly, the hydrodynamic model of the WEC buoy is validated. Then, a parametric analysis on the energy conversion of the nonlinear WEC is conducted concerning the properties of power take-off (PTO) devices and wave parameters. The findings reveal that each parameter has a significant influence on the nonlinear WEC’s performance under irregular waves. Therefore, the parametric study should be carried out to determine the device parameters, which ensures that the nonlinear WEC outperforms the linear WEC under the specific environmental conditions. Moreover, it is found that the WEC with the proposed bistable system could absorb more power at the low-frequency region, which addresses the issue of efficiently capturing low-frequency wave energy.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1-13 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part M: Journal of Engineering for the Maritime Environment |
| Early online date | 18 Jun 2025 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 18 Jun 2025 |
Keywords
- bistable mechanism
- oscillating-body WEC
- power absorption performance
- irregular waves
- parametric study